High School Never Ends
by TheDarkestTheory
Summary: Sora Hikari has recently enrolled in Destiny Islands Academy. He figured things were going to be easy, but after meeting the many different students there, stories unfold and he finds himself caught in the middle of a massive love triangle. Completely AU
1. New Beginnings

**Chapter 1**

**New Beginnings**

_"The best part about new beginnings is the ignorance they'll never end."_

* * *

"Sneaking out again?"

He didn't move, kept himself frozen halfway out the small dorm window.

"Just because you stopped moving doesn't mean I can't see you, silly." Sora leans up against their doorway, twirls the lollipop stick in his mouth and chuckles to himself. "Look, I won't tell the dorm leader you're gone if you really are leaving again."

Roxas cocks an eyebrow, turns around to face his friend. Sora, as usual, had his Breaking Benjamin shirt on, loose-fit camo jeans that sagged low enough so that he could tell the kid needed a belt. Sora had his usual sex-hair look going on, spiky and brunette in a way that just middle fingered the law of gravity. "Oh really?"

"Yeah, really. Just tell me where you're going?"

"Awful nice of you." he sits on the window ledge, balances his weight carefully so that he wouldn't fall backwards into the brush. "If you must know, I'm going to the girl's dorm."

"To visit Nami?"

"Err... yeah."

"Cool."

Something isn't right here; Roxas picks on Sora relentlessly, "borrows" his stuff without asking, harasses him almost every chance he gets and Sora's being _nice_? That's just not right. "Ah, I get it. You want something, right?"

He sighs, comes in a little closer to his roommate and smiles. "Nah."

"Bullshit."

"People can be nice without intention, ya' know. I do it all the time." Sora tosses his empty lollipop stick in their checkerboard garbage can and, slowly and slyly, sneaks toward Roxas a little closer. "Hey, while you're over there, do you mind giving Kairi a message for me?"

"Depends on the message." he smirks. "And how important it is."

"Pretty damn important."

By now Sora's standing straight in front of Roxas, staring him in the eyes. He'd kneeled on the floor to match his height. The blonde chuckles. "Fair enough. And what am I telling her?"

It was weird; one second Sora and Roxas are laughing with each other and the next they're face to face, practically devouring each other's lips. Roxas was still sitting on the ledge of the window when Sora came forward more, giving him the softest kiss he could, but when he went to stand back up he couldn't; Roxas already had his arms tight around his waist, pulling him in closer and closer for more sweet kisses. He didn't know when in their little "session" he'd cupped his cheek with one hand, but he didn't exactly care; he was too lost. Each one was more heated than the last; every time they parted it'd be for less than a second.

This part, however, was the only exception to that rule.

The blonde smirks, stares his brunette roommate down with hungry eyes and runs his thumb across Sora's bottom lip. "What, you want me to kiss her like that?" he teases. Sora blushes a little, smirks just the same and kisses the thumb that was on his lips.

"Nope. Tell her it's over."

Roxas was gone in an instant.

2 MONTHS EARLIER

"N-nnaahhh..." the brunette groans, taking in a deep breath. "R-Riku stop..."

He presses his lips against the top of his head, earning a surprised yelp from Sora, who still lay in his arms as he has been for past few hours or so. Riku'd lost count of how long he's been at this with Sora; days? Hours? He didn't care. Despite what Sora's telling him, they were both having fun doing this. "It's a little too late for that. We're so close, Sora..."

The brunette lets out an angry sigh, tries his hardest to get Riku's face away from his. "Cut it out... I wanna sle-eep! WHAT DID I JUST TELL YOU? DON'T DO THAT YOU DUMBASS!"

"Shh... you need to quit making those noises; someone might hear us."

"But I c-can't... not if you won't stop doing that..." he groans.

"What if Kairi hears you?" the older of the two holds him closer, keeps doing it. Sora swats him away, giggles in protest. A finger comes over his pink lips and the older of the two gives him a calm shush. "I told you to keep quiet."

"Then stop blowing in my ear!"

Riku laughs, blows in his hear teasingly again and holds his friend tighter in his arms. "I'll stop when you stop making me carry you..."

"I'm ttiiirrreeeddd, though..." Sora looks up at him, gulps when he sees his friend's cold eyes yet... strangely _warm_ smile. "Carry me until we get to the dorms?"

"Sora, we've been at this for hours..." he sighs. "If we were anywhere even remotely _near_ the dorms, or even if we knew where the hell we were going , trust me, I'd dump you off there."

"Thanks...?" He blinks, a bit confused. Riku is so good at sarcasm; was he just joking? "You're kidding though, right?"

". . ."

Sora hadn't spoken the rest of the trip there.

"Welcome to Destiny Islands Academy." the front desk woman chirped just a little to enthusiastically for someone awake at 2 am. Sora and Riku had been out since 7 trying to find the school itself, and as many times as Sora insisted they ask someone for help, Riku would go on about how he 'didn't need anyone's help' and that he could 'get them there on his own'. "Oh... are you two students here?"

"Yeah. Just enrolled."

"Names, please?"

I'm not even kidding when I say that Riku dropped Sora on the floor. He completely let go of him and you could probably hear the impact of his butt against the ground from China... "Riku Kuragari."

Sora raises his head from the coldness of the tiled floor. If you looked at him from above, you could almost see the stars floating around his head..."Sora Hikari..."

"Both freshmen?"

They nod.

"Alright. One moment please." she says before stepping into the backroom behind the desk. The two boys stood there, Sora still sitting on his butt on the floor, Riku standing there in his pride. They could hear footsteps from outside, muffled laughter too. Sora turns, looks toward the glass entrance door and notices a group of kids coming in their way. One was tall, a spiky red-head with a silver eyebrow piercing he could just barely make out. He had eyes that were... green? He could hardly tell in the darkness. There was a blonde too, hair that reminded Sora of his old friend Ventus's, and eyes practically the same blue as his. He was... actually kind of handsome, but Sora shook off that thought the second it came. Then he saw two girls, one blonde and relatively short in comparison to the red-headed chick next to her.

Whoa.

Sora had to double-take when he saw the other girl. She was, for lack of a better word, hot. Her eyes were as blue as the Mediterranean sea, maybe even bluer, and her hair fell straight down onto her shoulders, long and ruby and... just plain elegant.' She was slender, very curvy (that being one of the first things Sora had noticed about her). The other red-head whips around and shoots Sora a glare that, if looks could kill, would totally murder him. He was guessing that was her older brother?

That group of people step into the corridor, laughing and still mingling with each other. The blonde was talking with the red headed guy, and the two girls were mingling. Despite what Sora wanted, the blonde chick was looking at him, while her red-headed friend just sat there and giggled.

"So what room did you get, Roxy?" Sora hears the older boy ask.

"Room 108, Dorm B. You?"

iNo way./iThe brunette gets up off the ground heads toward him. "Wait... room 108? I guess you're my roommate then."

"Oh, really?" he says, raising an eyebrow. "Huh. Name's Roxas."

"I'm Sora."

"Sora?" Roxas chuckles, playfully slaps him on the shoulder and gives him a wink. "Cute name. Suits you."

"Watch it, Roxas." the older man teases, wrapping an arm around his neck and pulling him close to his chest. Roxas was laughing, just as playfully trying to escape his grasp. Sora can't help but laugh a little too. "I'm Axel, and Roxas is mine, got it memorized?"

The blonde's cheeks almost immediately light on fire. "What? I most certainly am not!"

"Yeeeesss you are, we established that yesterday night."

The shade of red on his cheeks deepened about 4 tints. "Don't bring it up..."

The blonde haired girl stepped forward too, gave Sora a shy wave and with a quiet voice says, "I'm Namine, and this is my sister Kairi." she gestures toward the red head. She just gives Sora a polite smile and waves just the same as Namine had. Gosh, she was a sight...

_Kairi..._ Music to Sora's ears...

"H-Hi." the brunette stutters. Riku gives him a slap on the back, gaining his attention to reveal the woman from the backroom.

"Sora Hikari, right?"

"Y-yeah."

"Oh, and I see Roxas is already here. Please, come right this way and I'll show you to your room."

Both boys bid a quick 'bye' to their friends and follow after the woman.


	2. Kairi

**Author's Note: MAN, I suuuccckkkk at updating to this website. Look me up on deviantArt; NumberXIIMiku and you'll get the quicker updated version. I'm halfway done with Chapter 3, got the entire story diagrammed and ready to go!**

**Roxas: Wow, you took the time to plan ahead and not to write?**

**Miku: (scribble)**

**Roxas: ...what are you writing?**

**Miku: Your gruesome demise :)**

**Roxas: O_O**

**Miku: hee hee... don't mess. Now go give Aku-chan a kiss, kaayy? 3**

**Roxas: -_- I hate you.**

**Miku: Love you too babe. READ AND REVIEW, PLEASE! :D**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**Kairi**

_First love is only a little foolishness and a lot of curiosity._****

* * *

"Two days into school and we've already got couples? Wow..."

Sora lets out a sigh, staring forward at the two boys sitting on the floor together. Axel had a not-so-subtle arm around Roxas, both of them were laying back on the floor, their legs were up against the base of the couch, and Roxas, evidentially, wasn't wearing a shirt. The couch was toppled over, Sora took note of, and the atmosphere of the air was so heavy with awkward you could probably cut it with a knife.

"Roxas, I told you we shouldn't be doing this now." Axel teased, jabbing his index finger into the side of Roxas's face. Sora blinks. "Poor horny sucker. Pushed me right over, Sora. You had to see it."

"WHAT?" The blond blushed a little swatted him away, blushing profusely. "Cut it out! I-It's not like that!"

"No need for denial, we all know you love me~!" The red head teases more, still poking him and ruffling his hair like a little kid. Sora just stood there, the blankest expression on his face as he watched Roxas struggle to push Axel off him.

"So... obviously you two are busy with something." he replies, slowly and subtly backing out of the room. "I uh... think I'll just go, then."'

"Where to?"

"Korea, Switzerland, Idaho – anywhere but here!" he retreats running full speed out of the room and down the hall.

* * *

"Well, you certainly left a memorable impression on my roommate..." the blonde laughs, giving his best friend a playful swat. The red-head returns it with a toothy smile and shuffles toward the turned-over couch. "Could you, oh I dunno... NOT make him think I'm gay?"

"Nah," Axel grins, pushing the couch back up and leaning on the arm. "That's no fun."

Roxas just scoffs, punches his arm as hard as he can, and sits back down. He sips at his Coke that he'd left on the coffee table and lets out a sigh.

"Axel, if he moves out I swear I will kill you..."

* * *

_She probably thinks I'm a total creep..._

He didn't know where he was going, but quite frankly he really didn't care. He just let his legs bring him to an unknown destination, watched with fascination at the changing scenery as he walked down the hall. As he walked, he could hear some kids in their dorms talking, some banging and yelling, some laughing and giggling, and sometimes he heard a whole ton of uh... "other noises" he really didn't want to mention. For example, when he passed room 107 he heard creaking and moaning (which really freaked him out, considering, well, this IS the boy's dorm... no girls allowed), when he passed room 103 he heard shouting, and when he finally passed room 101 he heard a refreshing echo of laughter. Even on the first week of school people had already decided friends and enemies, though Sora really couldn't keep up with it.

Through the dorm halls he loped around, staggering forward ever-so slowly; Sora wasn't particularly in a hurry to get to wherever his legs were guiding him. He sat in his own pathetic thoughts, Kairi on his mind, and felt his cheeks warm.

_Knock it off, Sora. You hardly even know her anyways._

"It's true..." he murmurs to no one in particular. "She's gorgeous but she's probably a bitch on the inside, just like the other girls... Half the time they always are..."

_Exactly. Besides, she's got a brother. Not just that but he also knows what dorm you live in. You better watch it, Sora._

Mind: one.

Sora: none.

He swings a left out to the corridor, keeps walking until he feels a gust of fresh outside-air brush against him, still clueless as to where he was going. He was walking through the quad for some reason [God only knows what reason that is] with a goofy smile on his face. Not that he wasn't enjoying the walk though; clueless or not, he enjoyed getting out.

_While I'm thinking about it, what were Axel and Roxas even doing? _He thought of the many different possibilities. _Sex, maybe wresting, more sex..._ The brunette boy shudders at the thought; if Roxas were gay it'd be dangerous living with him. He'd constantly have to watch his ass, in a LITERAL sense as well as metaphorical, and he was sure he'd be seeing a lot more of Axel in his room...

It wasn't that Sora was prejudice to gays, because he was bisexual himself (he's not looking for a guy at the time, though) but... he didn't know, really. Something about being around gay boys made him uncomfortable, like he couldn't turn around for a minute without getting stared at. He's always been told he's handsome, and, whether he believes he is or not, people stare at him funny. Like WEIRD funny. Both boys AND girls look at him like that. It's sickening.

But whatever. Even if Roxas were gay, he'd have Axel, right?

_Wait... when'd I start thinking about this?_

* * *

"So you remember that boy we met the other day?"

The blonde looks up from her sketchbook. Kairi was pacing around the room again, stopping every so often at the window to look out. "Which one?"

"The cute brunette. Sora, I think it was." she giggles, twirls a lock of crimson hair and looks out at the boy wandering around the quad. He'd been pacing around the fountain for hours with that far-off look in his eyes. Clearly something was bothering him. Kairi was almost tempted to walk down there herself and talk to him about it. But she wouldn't exactly know what to ask him, so she didn't bother. "I think he likes me."

"Oh, really?" Naminè's eyes avert back to her rough doodle. In the corner of her eye she could still see the red-headed girl looking out and giggling. "What makes you think that?"

She noticed the brunette boy looking back up at her from below. He had an I-saw-you-by-accident kind of expression, so Kairi flashed him a quick and gentle smile, giggling to herself when she saw his face illuminate a deep shade of red. "He's always so nervous around me. It's kind of cute."

"Well do you like him back?"

Her cheeks warmed a little too. "I hardly even know the kid, Nami!"

"So talk to him. Get to know him or something."

"Hm..." she taps her lips with her index finger a couple times, and then looks back out the window at the clueless brunette. He was talking to some tall, silver-haired guy, laughing and blushing like crazy. The other kid was kind of cute himself, Kairi took notice of, and decided to herself that Naminè was right; she should go and talk to him. "Fine. I'll play it your way. Be back later." And with that, she was off.

Naminè didn't even look up from her sketchbook as she left.

* * *

Two weeks.

That's how long it takes to make a new best friend. Sora and Kairi had been hanging out a lot lately, got to know each other fairly quick. It was like kindergarten; you talk to someone for 5 minute and it's like you've known them for decades on end. Really, the two of them were THAT close. Amazing, right?

Kairi was sweet and beautiful in Sora's eyes, kind and gentle yet strong and independent. The girl practically had him wrapped around her pretty little finger. To Kairi, Sora was the sweetest guy she'd ever met. He was a very sensitive kind of guy, very shy in nature. Sora tended to get flustered around Kairi, especially when she talked about petty girl problems; even the very mention of a bra lit his cheeks on fire like a match. It was hopelessly adorable.

Kairi purposely flirted with him; she hated to admit it, but she got this sick kick out of making Sora flustered. Really though, if you've seen the kid blush you'd get why.

"So Sora..." she started, tossing the brunette boy a sea salt ice cream. "Do you like anyone~?"

He was surprised at the random question. "U-Uh yeah, why?"

She giggles, sits down on the floor next to him and leans her face close to his. Almost instantly he blushes. "Tell me who~?"

"What? N-No!"

"Aw come on..." she pushes her lower lip out a little cutely. "Pweeeaassseeee?"

"I told you, No!" he tries his hardest to move his head farther away from Kairi's, but she comes even closer, practically brushing their lips together making him squeak with shock. Her eyes fluttered open and closed, moving from looking into his eyes to looking at his shaking lips. It was so cute how he was blushing, and she held back the urge to kiss him quick.

He could feel her breath on his lips; does he kiss her or...?

"Hmmm~?" Kairi's voice was teasing as she leaned in even more. They were practically kissing, lips against each other's but never moving. "Do you want me to tell you who I like?"

He didn't want to speak; their lips kept accidentally hitting each other as she spoke. He wanted to kiss her.

Sora nods his head.

"Okay." Kairi backs off, shoots him a smile and blushes a little as she confesses. "I like Roxas."


	3. Airplanes

**Chapter 3**

**Airplanes**

_"Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are shooting stars? I could really use a wish right now."_**  
**

* * *

_She's drawing again. _

Roxas has been watching Naminè draw since kindergarten when Kairi forced their friendship on each other, and never quite figured out what or why she's drawing non-stop. I mean, Roxas doodles on his binders all the time and sometimes even on flat out paper but how can anyone stand to do nothing but draw? Doesn't she get bored? What the hell is she even drawing, anyways? _Taking this much time to draw... must be pretty damn spectacular._ he chuckles to himself, sneaking a quick look at her.

She was staring at him too, and then looks back at her paper. Then back up at Roxas. Back to the paper. It goes on like that for the duration of class.

_What the hell...?_

The second the bell rang and every student in the room fled, Roxas calmly strode over to the blonde girl by the window. She was still struggling to gather her books, and when she dropped one Roxas decided to be a gentleman and pick it back up. It was a little orange sketchbook, loose pieces of paper chipped and ripped as they stuck out from between used pages. He gives her a light tap on the shoulder, holds out the book. She turns around.

_Whoa._

Roxas never really took the time to notice, but Naminè's... kind of gorgeous. She has this blonde hair that falls perfectly down her mid-back and blue eyes like distant oceans. Why hadn't he noticed that before; she's absolutely stunning? "Hey I think y-you dropped this."

_Man up, Roxas! Cool guys don't stutter!_

"O-Oh..."

"Sorry, just wanted to make sure you didn't leave without it. It always sucks to forget things." he says calmly, forcing a nervous chuckle out of his throat. His eyes dart from her to the sketchbook again. "S-So you like to draw?"

She doesn't say anything else, just blushes the reddest Roxas has ever seen and rushes out of the room, snatching her book and dashing straight out into the halls. Papers fluttered out of her unzipped bag as she went but in seconds, Roxas was the only person in the room. What, did he offend her or something? Ugh. "...okay..."

With a sigh, he slings his messenger bag over his shoulder and picks up one of the few loose papers that had scattered along the floor, flips it over and his head became littered with questions when he saw the doodle on the back. It was him. Smiling and laughing. Hell, she'd shaded it perfectly with plain, simple grey lead. His first thought was _Wow. The girl has talent._ but in a moment's thought became a questioned;

_...what was that about?_

* * *

~ _"Stupid loner!" they kicked and picked teased and laughed at the poor lonely blonde girl sitting under the tree. What did she do to deserve getting picked on? Naminè was never mean to anyone... she hardly spoke to anyone and when she did it was never more than three or four words..._

_She just sat there, wide eyed, hugging her sketchbook close to her chest as tears pooled in her eyes._

_"You're so weird!"_

_"Little lonely moron, you can't even speak can you?"_

_"Ha ha! So she's stupid too!"_

_She whimpers, looks down at the ants crawling around her feet in the dirt and holds back the tears that stung her eyelids. They always verbally abused her like this. She hated being picked on, but she had no friends to stand by, no one to talk to. She was trapped. Those little ants... they walked in straight lines, groups of little black dots working together to make their lives better. If she cried the ants would drown. She can't trouble them with her sorrow... Not after Mommy and Daddy._

_"Shut up! I'm not weird! The stupid one is you, moron!" Naminè snaps, turning sorrow into faux-rage. The oldest boy walks over, pushes her onto her back and laughs, walking away with his little 3-man army. It was there she cried, watching the ants struggle to get past the fallen tears on the ground. Some drowned in those tears, but others quickly passed by it and scurried off with the food supply it had dropped. They just forgot about that little ant. Ditched her when they figured she was useless. The poor, lonely girl can relate to that ant... just a little too well... Naminè sniffles and wipes her tears as quickly as possible. Innocently, the little girl looks down towards the deceased insect._

_"Gomenesai..." she whispers over and over to the little ant. "You're lonely just like me now."_ ~

"Get over it, Nami." She whips out a pencil and goes straight for her sketchbook. "Just stop thinking about it. You've been alone from the start and that won't change because of your wishful thinking. Just stop."

With a stroke of her pencil, she drew away her problems, weaving line after line of art, composing an unknown picture that sat in the back of her mind. She never knew what she was drawing at first, just kind of did it by instinct and let it go from there. She spawned images of unknown places and faces, sometimes recreated memories of people she's met, places she's gone. And within a matter of moments a drawing was born.

But this one was the same as the other.  
She drew Roxas. A smiling, perfect Roxas.

Naminè drops her pencil, falls back onto her bed and stares up at the little white swirls of the ceiling. _You gotta get him out of your head, Nami. He's cool, you're a nobody. There is no chance. Get over this, will you? Besides, how long have you liked boys anyways?_She doesn't. At all. She can't trust them, not since the incident with Mom and Dad. They all cheat and lie. They're all the same; they don't care about girls. Roxas was probably the same way deep inside.

Men repulse her.  
But... Naminè still wanted to know what it was like to have a friend...

* * *

"...did you draw that?"

The blonde boy turns to face his ignorant brunette roommate, whose eyes were locked on the doodle Roxas had stuck on the wall. He hadn't heard him come in. "No, I didn't. Someone else did."

Sora smirks, sits down on Roxas's bed next to him and mock wolf whistles. "Ahh I get it now. From someone special, right?"

"Not even close." the blonde rolls his eyes, looks back at the flawless drawing and sighs. "Naminè drew it. Dropped it back in the Chem lab."

"...which one is Naminè again?"

"The blonde, Sora. The blonde."

"Ah, right." he looks away from the doodle and to his conflicted blonde roommate. "Well, why don't you go talk to her about it?"

Roxas huffs, throws him a dagger-glare. "And tell her what? 'Hey I'm Roxas. Hope you don't mind but I found your doodle and decided to track you down to give it back, and by the way I think it's really good'? That doesn't sound creepy at all."

"...it actually doesn't, Roxas. Not at all."

"Not the point." he falls back into his bed, lays back and stares at the ceiling swirls of white. "I dunno, I just guess I'm not that good at talking to girls... Not my forte." It was true. Roxas was always a ladies' man without even trying but... when did have to try... what was he supposed to say? He's been trying for years to get close to Naminè, tried his hardest but she always ran. What the hell do you do in that kind of situation?

Sora falls back too, looks at him from the side and smiles.

"So don't talk. Just listen to her."

* * *

"Gomenesai..." she whispers, muffling the sound of her hiccups and whimpers. Naminè has been crying like this for hours, folding old doodles into paper airplanes and shooting them out the window. The maintenance guy probably hates her for it, but it has never ceased in helping her feel better. Why? She doesn't really know; throwing pieces of her past into the air just... eases the pain sometimes.

Out the window stretched a stunning night sky, grey clouds cascaded in the deep, dark blues of the atmosphere. Combustions of light gently spotted the stunning picture, along with a lunar eclipse Naminè was glad she stayed up to see. Had she the motivation, Naminè would have gladly drew the scene itself again. She tosses the last paper airplane on the window, takes a deep breath and turns to walk back to her bed. But something bumps her head from behind.

A paper airplane. And when she unfolded it, it was a doodle of Roxas.

_What the hell...?_

Naminè immediately rushes back to the window, looks down towards the ground to find the blonde boy himself, standing there, hands in his pockets, a smile on his face. With a free hand he waves up towards her, chuckles and smiles up at her.

She finds her lips curving into what felt like a smile for the first time in years.

"Nami," Roxas yells up to her, cupping his hands to amplify his sound. "You've got a really cute smile. You should use it more!" and with that note, he turns and heads back towards the boys' dorms. Naminè watched him go the entire trip, cheeks redder than her roommate's hair.

_He's been there since the beginning... hasn't he?_

* * *

_"Hey... are you okay?"_

_When she looked up, she saw a boy. Blonde, kind of short, around her age, smiling down at her with questioning eyes that were a comforting shade of blue. He stared down at her with a gentle expression on his face; she could sense he was friendly. Shyly, he extended a hand to help her up. She stared at it in question._

_"You're crying. Are you hurt? Do you want me to bring you to the nurse's office?"_

_Naminè sniffles and takes his hand then brings herself up to stand. This boy was being so nice but... should she accept his offer? After those boys before, how did she know he wasn't the same?_

_"No. I'm fine." she snaps, hugging her book to her chest and running off towards the school. "I'm always fine..."_

All this time of running... all this time of avoiding boys... hiding from Roxas...

What was it that Naminè was running from all this time?


	4. You can tell me anything

**Author's Note: Yesss! I've been so productive lately. I can't believe I'm on Chapter 4 already. But you wanna know what's weird? When I first started this story, the only part I had figured out was Chapter 8, which you guys will love btw, and nothing else. I just winged it on the first Chapter. Funny, right? Ah well. I'll shut up so you can read.**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**You can Tell Me Anything**

_"True friends care enough to stab you in the front."_**  
**

* * *

"Sora, knock it off. You've gotta come out from under your blanket sometime."

The brunette sinks into his bed even further than before, tightening his grip on the blanket he'd tossed over his head. He's been like that since two days ago, when Kairi told him that she liked Roxas. I mean, why would she like Roxas? Sure he's totally cool... and nice... and kinda handsome... and he's a total ladies' man without even trying... Damn. He can't even come up with a good reason for them to NOT be together. But he still wanted to be with Kairi.

_Kairi..._His cheeks warm at her thought. "No!"

Roxas sighs, rubs his back through the blanket and shifts closer to the hidden form. "Come on Sora. You're gonna catch a cold or something. And you've already skipped a day of classes; get over yourself and I'll go with you to Algebra." The blonde playfully punches his arm.

Sora whimpers. "But she's in my Algebra class..."

"I don't care if she's in your class, I'll drag you there if I have to." With one swift movement, Roxas had pulled away all the blankets covering Sora and pinned him down by each wrist on other side of him. "Come on, Sora. Be a man."

Sora flexes his muscles a little and looks away from the boy above him. "I am a man!"

"Yeah, a man who still cries when he gets to the part when Mufasa dies in the Lion King. Ladies beware."

"Oh come on, that was sad!" he counter, sitting up slightly. But once he gets up he finds his face uncomfortably close to Roxas's... When neither of them moved, silence flooded into their dorm.

_Why isn't he moving?_Sora panicked for a minute, heart suddenly beating a little bit faster as he stared his roommate down. The blonde had a gentle look in his eyes, an unreadable expression that he couldn't figure out. It wasn't as awkward or disturbed like he was sure his face looked... more like comfortable and...

_Creepy. Really, really creepy._

"R-Roxas?" Sora's voice cracks as he stares up at the older blonde boy, taking a deep gulp when he starts bringing his face down closer to his. Pretty soon he can almost feel his breath on his lips and his heart is beating so fasts that Roxas can probably hear it and holy shit what the hell is he doing and why is he so close and...

His thoughts trail off when he feels lips against his cheeks. Roxas laughs and rolls off of him, helps him up so he can stand too. "I'm just messin' with ya." (Even so, his cheeks were a bright shade of red.)

_Certainly didn't feel like it._

"Look, if this whole Kairi thing's gotten you too shaken up, you can always just talk to me about it okay?" the blonde says. "I'm your friend, so don't go hiding things from me, get it?"

_Well, that's kind of out of character..._

"Y-Yeah. I get it."

* * *

Algebra was torture.

Sora had to sit there, two seats away from Kairi, swallowing his pride and hoping she didn't notice he was in today. The last thing he wanted to do was talk to her... I mean, she practically just rejected him straight to his face for Roxas the other day; what was he supposed to say to her? Things would be... just too awkward for comfort.

Riku slips a note on his desk.

_Hey Casanova, are you feeling alright?_

Casanova. Way to throw more salt in the wound, Riku. Nicely done.

_Just fine. Why do you ask?_

The silver-headed boy scribbles something on the note, but is called on by the teacher. He sneakily stands, pretending to knock over Sora's pencil (not actually pretending; he did...) and putting the note back on his desk as he answered number eight on the math homework. The teacher throws him a "well done" and turns her back to them, giving Sora a chance to read the messy written words.

_Because you're doodling all over the desk, smart ass. You suck at drawing, by the way. Is that supposed to be Kairi or cow jumping over the moon?_

The brunette shoots his friend an angry glare, only to see a flirtatious looking Kairi in the background. She smiled, shot him a wink and turned back to her homework.

Sora nearly melted right there. The teacher actually had to ask if he was okay; his cheeks were just THAT red. He slouched so far back in his chair he nearly got stuck under his desk.

_This is getting out of hand... isn't it?_

* * *

"Hey, Roxas, have you ever liked someone that didn't like you back?"

The blonde looks over, dropping his super-bouncy ball onto the floor and sits up on his bed. He had a stick of pockey hanging carelessly out of his mouth and papers scattered all over the top bunk; clearly Sora had caught him off guard with his question. "Uh yeah, hasn't everyone?"

"You didn't let me finish. Have you ever liked someone who... liked your best friend?"

"Lemme guess. This is Kairi related."

"Mhm."

"Figured as much." Sora takes a seat on his own bed across the room, falls back into the softness of his mattress and lets out an exasperated sigh. "Why, she likes Riku?"

"No, she likes you."

Roxas chuckles. "Gross."

Sora couldn't believe his ears. Kairi is one of the most beautiful girls he's ever come across in his life. How could anyone, ESPECIALLY Roxas the ladies' man, find her 'gross'? "Gross? Are you kidding me? She's hot."

"Yeah but she's a bitch. Just... try to stay away from girls like her, okay?" Roxas sighs, nibbling down on his still-standing pockey. He flips through his Algebra book blindly and slaps it shut, reaches for the book he threw at the other side of his bunk. "People like her are nothing but trouble."

"Okay, thanks I guess..." Sora shuts his eyes for a minute and breaths in deeply, looks over at his roommate, who was eating a stick of pockey and reading a paper-back (totally ruined, by the way) of Night by Elie Weisel. He'll never know how Roxas can stomach reading something like that; Sora got halfway into the book and nearly broke down into tears. "What about you?"

He looks up from his book. "Hm?"

"Do you like anyone?"

* * *

_What?_

"Do you?"

The blonde just sat there, staring at his roommate dumbfounded, so many thoughts running through his head. He could tell him who he liked right now and live with him hating him for so long... or he could wing it and say he liked Naminè. "Yeah. I do." His answer is simple, leaving things unknown and vague. But he knew exactly what Sora would ask next...

Sora cocks his head to the side a little, lips parted and he asks quietly, "Who?"

_Of course. Just... lie to him, Rox. He doesn't need to know._

"Why do you care?" Roxas tosses his bouncy ball back at the ceiling again and lets it fall back onto his chest.

"Weren't you the one who said we're friends, and we can tell each other anything?"

_Oh. I did say that, huh..._

The blonde climbs down from the top bunk and stretches. He strides to the other side of the room, where Sora's sitting on his bed, and wraps a not-so subtle arm around his shoulder. "Sure I did. But this you don't have to worry about."

Sora squirms under his arm. "Why? Who is it?"

Roxas laughs. His roommate is so fun to tease.

_Maybe..._

"It's no fun if I just tell you. You have to figure it out, 'kay?"

He didn't even give Sora a chance to respond when he ran out the door.

* * *

**-LE GASP!- Roxas likes someone? And even though I know who it is, it's a surprise? Oh em gee! :O :O :O**

**Screw love; reviews are my drug :)  
**


	5. Mystery Kiss!

**Chapter 5**

**Mystery Kiss!**

_"The supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out alive."_

* * *

This morning was just... weird.

Sora was late to class, as usual, and was running through the quad to get to the classrooms on the other side when he saw this person standing in front of the door. He didn't know who it was, didn't know why they were blocking the entrance. Even weirder was this person was wearing some kind of like... cloak. It looked leathery and black, a zipper ran all the way to the bottom and it was just bizarre. He couldn't even see the face behind the shadow the hood made on their face, but it didn't matter; Sora was late to Algebra again and pretty soon the professor was gonna have his head on a platter. He tried his hardest to ignore this person, yet they just kept staring at him.

But it was only worse when Sora passed them.

This morning was just... weird.

Sora was late to class, as usual, and was running through the quad to get to the classrooms on the other side when he saw this person standing in front of the door. He didn't know who it was, didn't know why they were blocking the entrance. Even weirder was this person was wearing some kind of like... cloak. It looked leathery and black, a zipper ran all the way to the bottom and it was just bizarre. He couldn't even see the face behind the shadow the hood made on their face, but it didn't matter; Sora was late to Algebra again and pretty soon the professor was gonna have his head on a platter. He tried his hardest to ignore this person, yet they just kept staring at him.

But it was only worse when Sora passed them.

This person grabbed onto his arm and pulled him back, making sure to keep that arm pinned behind him. "W-what the...?" the brunette yelps as something dark covers his eyes; this person is blindfolding him. He can't even register what the hell is going on; all these thoughts kept pounding against his head and he's struggling to get away from this person. He tries using his arms and legs but it's clearly not working; he can still feel this person struggle to get a grip on him to keep him still. Sora slams his elbow back but feels his other arm pin it back with the other. He yelps in pain. But what he hadn't noticed until his back hit what felt like the stone walls of the building was that this person had been trying to back him up this entire time. He couldn't move his arms since they were pinned (by what felt like one hand only) by the wrist against the cold, stone wall, and a hand snaked its way up his neck and to his jaw line. It slithered to cup his cheek and Sora shudders; why was this stranger so gentle?

He could feel their presence getting closer by breath on his lips. Sora's heart stopped beating completely.

The brunette could hear a soft chuckle, almost familiar to him, and it'd be deep and sort of alluring if this person weren't trying to rape him! There was a pause, and when Sora opened his mouth to scream for help his words were silenced by lips on his own.

They moved so gently against his, an action which stirred Sora's resistance almost immediately. He balled his hands into fists and behind the black cloth that blinded his eyes, the blue orbs were widened with shock. _Who is this...? Why are they kissing me?_he thought to himself in a panic, almost afraid to ask. This person ran their free hand down from his cheek to his neck, gently rubbing the skin there making Sora moan a little; the action was so tender it caught him off guard. A finger played at a spot on his neck that made him shudder, and he didn't know whether he should kiss back or turn his head away.

Shyly and unsure, he pressed his lips back just as softly.

But just as soon as he started kissing back, he felt something wet against his cheeks as this person pulled away. He could feel the shaking in their hands, and heard a soft, "I'm sorry..." before they let go of his hands and he could hear the sound of tapping feet running. Immediately, he ripped of the blindfold and rubbed at his wrists, staring at the slowly disappearing body in the black cloak over the other side of the quad.

_Who... was that?_

Just as that person ran, he saw Axel running towards him, book bag lazily slung over his shoulder. But he still didn't move. Sora just sat there.

"Hey Sora." the red head says, huffing and panting for air. "You late too?"

He said nothing.

"Uh... something happen?"

_You have... no idea..._

"No..." Sora responded slowly, snapping his eyes away from the other building. "Nothing at all."

* * *

It was all he could think about in Algebra.

Who was this person, and why did they kiss him? Better yet, why a blindfold? Sora had suspicions on who it may have been, but he wasn't entirely sure. I mean, Roxas had seemed pretty sketchy the day before, and he was supposed to guess who he liked but Roxas doesn't seem like the kinda guy to get all sentimental with other dudes. He's a ladies' man; what's he need a boyfriend for? Sora just needed to talk to someone about this.

Looking to his right, Riku wasn't there.

He came into Chemistry class three periods later that day.

* * *

"So let me get this straight..." Riku taunts, taking a spoonful of ramen and shoving it into his mouth. "Some guy walked up to you this morning and kissed you? And you kissed him back?" He shoots his best friend a you're-a-total-moron glare and takes another spoonful of ramen. "Are you retarded? What were you thinking? Oh wait, that's a dumb question because clearly you WEREN'T!"

Sora blushes the reddest he's ever blushed and looks away from his silver haired friend. "I know that... It's just that they were... I-I don't know!" he throws a pillow over his face and hides himself, refusing to look at his pissed-off best friend. Riku had a point though; why _did_Sora kiss them back? He didn't know who it was or why they were doing it but... why would he do something like that? It's totally out of character.

"Who do you think it was, Sora?"

_That's a good question. I have no idea._Sora thought to himself with a sigh, peeling the pillow from his face and falling back onto the floor. Riku stared at him with a quizzical look and sighed again. "I don't know, Riku. I don't really know anyone well enough to make a good guess..."

The silver headed man chuckles, then crawls next to best friend to give him a pet on the head. "Then we'll ask around, alright? See what people know? Maybe then we can figure out who it was."

Sora smiles. "Yeah. Thanks, Riku. You're the best."

* * *

They spent maybe three hours bothering people around the school. And got no results whatsoever.

I think the closest to "results" they got was talking to Naminè, and she claimed she saw someone dressed in a black cloak walking around the quad during homeroom. She even drew a picture, but that didn't exactly help on figuring out who it was... When Riku went to talk to Kairi about it (since Sora was still a total chicken in talking to her) he said Kairi didn't know anything. Roxas didn't even see the guy, and Axel claimed he passed him on the quad while heading for class. Roxas even asked a couple of his friends, but none of them knew anything either. His friend Olette could've sworn she saw someone like that around, but wasn't sure it was them.

So in total, they had... nothing and a fantastic doodle. Awesome. Totally helping the cause here.

"I can't believe this." Sora groans. He rests his head on Riku's legs and stares up at his silver-headed friend. "How hard can it really be to find a guy in a black leather cloak? I mean, somebody's gotta know something... but they're not saying anything."

Sora could see the slightest tint of pink of his best friend's cheeks. Why is Riku blushing? "Yeah, I know. We can try again tomorrow, alright?"

Sora shifts upward a little, bringing his face closer to Riku's and groans. "Why tomorrow?"

The tint of pink on his face becomes more noticeable. What is with him? "I-It's almost eight. You should probably head back to your room."

"Yeah... I guess so..."

* * *

The walk back to his room was long and painful.

Not only did he have to walk down three staircases, but he was trapped in his own train of thought and sitting in the memory of what had happened that morning. Why _did_he kiss that person back? What was he thinking? Maybe Riku was right... maybe he wasn't thinking...

He loped down the hall, banged a quick left on the first floor and fled to his room, slamming the door behind him. He noticed that Roxas wasn't in the room for once, though he's most likely at Axel's, and stepped into the darkness of the room with ease. He sighs, letting his book bag fall onto the floor before he sat down on the bottom couch of the loft bed on Roxas's side of the room. He slouches back onto the soft cushion, lets himself sink into it. He turns his head so he can see, one eye buried in soft black cushioning and the other looking out towards the room.

Something shimmered from the drawers. It caught his eye.

Curiously, Sora lopes to the dresser under the TV and notices a black leather sleeve hanging out. And then it hits him. He opens the drawer and pulls it out, stares wide-eyed as he sees the very same black leather cloak from this morning, zipper down the middle just like he remembered it.

_No way._

* * *

**Read and review?**

**Quite cheerful quotes I've got goin, right? ^_^**_  
_


	6. Confrontation

**Chapter 6**

**Confrontation**

_"Bend and twist it as you like, misuse and abuse it to your pleasure. But not even God can change the truth."_**  
**

* * *

When Roxas got back the next day, Sora was at a total loss for words.

He couldn't formulate the words he wanted to say, he didn't know what to do when he saw the blonde-haired boy walk into their dorm that morning. Even worse was it was a Saturday; he had no excuse to run off. He was stuck, trapped in silence for what felt like an eternity of pretending to be asleep. Roxas had climbed back onto the top bunk and (knowing Roxas) whipped out a book to read, so Sora was stuck under the covers until his roommate leaves the dorm. He sat in the memory of what had happened yesterday morning until he heard a familiar voice chuckle and say,

"I don't know why you're hiding but you're not very good at acting, Sora."

His heart stops beating for a minute. He snaps his eyes shut and winces as he hears the impact of Roxas's feet against the floor. The blonde had jumped down from the top bunk. With a swift movement, the covers over his face had been torn off and tossed over his lower half. He found himself staring into blue eyes as he sat there with a goofy, innocent smile on his face. "Um... h-hey, Roxas."

He scowls. "Are you still flipping out because of that guy the other morning?" Roxas chuckles, sits down on the edge of the couch and stares forward, away from Sora's eyes. "I thought you and Riku would figure out who it was already."

"Yeah and I-I have a theory..." The brunette swallows hard. "...about who it may have been?"

"Oh yeah? And what's that?"

Sora curls his body into a ball and hides his face in his knees, still laying down, trying to hide himself from Roxas as best he can. "Roxas... w-was it you who kissed me?"

He could've sworn he heard the leap of Roxas's heart in his chest in the midst of deep silence. "Why would you think that? I told you what I know, and that's not very much."

"You sure you weren't just lying to keep me from getting mad?"

"What? I don't lie. Sora, think of it this way;" Roxas turns to look at him with a despaired glare that didn't compliment the anger in his voice. "I have four different girls wrapped around my finger. Why would I want to kiss you?"

_He has a point, ya' know._ Sora thinks to himself with a grimace. "Well, when you word it like that it sounds terrible..." He smiles behind his knees, and says an unheard _thank you_to Roxas for proving him wrong. He could make out the sound of Roxas's text alert, heard the little clicks of buttons under his fingers.

Then he felt the loss of the blonde's presence as he walked towards their door, "I'm heading back to Axel's. Left my bag there." He hurries out the door without giving Sora a chance to respond. He sits up, rubbing the crust from his eyes and realizes something.

_He didn't leave his bag at Axel's... it's sitting by the door._

* * *

Sora knows it's not polite to spy on people, and he's been nagged about it since he was an ignorant little boy, but he just had to know where Roxas was going.

By the way Roxas was creeping through the halls all secretive-like, Sora knew something was up. Where was he really going? What was up with that leather cloak in his drawers? Was it... seriously him who kissed Sora? So many thoughts pounded against his head as he crept through the halls behind Roxas just as quietly. They'd walked up two flights of stairs before Sora realized where he was going.

There are only four dorms on the top floor. One is vacant, another is occupied and the other two are Axel's dorm and Riku's dorm. And if he wasn't going back to Axel's place... Why would he go see Riku? Sora didn't even know they were friends. At one point Sora's cell phone slipped out of his pocket and clanked onto the floor with a loud echo of noise. Roxas stopped a moment, scanned the area behind him quick only to find there was no one there (no one he could see, at least) and started again towards the third floor.

Sora sighs in relief. _That was so close... I'm lucky he didn't see me behind this plant..._

He waited and watched as Roxas knocked on door 127 and he knew right away that yes, he was going to talk to Riku for god only knows what reason. The silverette steps out of his dorm and for what felt like hours (but in real time was more or less than ten minutes) they sat there and talked about something Sora couldn't make out. He could hardly hear them from where he was, but if he got closer they'd see him for sure...

Once Roxas left Sora sucked in a deep breath of air and made his decision.

He had to confront Riku.

* * *

"You brat, what were you spying on me for?" Riku nags, punching Sora roughly in the arm. The brunette winces; he knew that wasn't as hard as Riku could actually punch (he'd seen him tear this kid apart in a 5th grade fight, poor kid got stuck in the hospital with a broken nose from one swing!) but it still hurt like hell! "Hasn't you Mom ever taught you not to eavesdrop? Knowing how uptight your Mom is, I can imagine she has and CLEALY you weren't paying attention. Gosh, Sora. You're hopeless."

"I'm sorry, I-I just needed to talk to you about this whole kiss thing."

"Really. Well, look..." The silverette sighs, turns his head away from Sora and closes his dorm door behind him, coming close to Sora's ear to whisper something. "Sora... it's not me that you need to talk to right now, it's Roxas."

Sora blinks, visibly confused as Riku pulls away to stare him directly in the eyes."...huh?"

"Go and talk to him; he's got a lot more to say about this than I do." Riku smiles and it was almost a... sad smile. He didn't know why or how but somehow Riku just looked kinda... miserable. "Okay? Just hear him out. We can talk about this later."

The brunette gulps. "Why? I don't get what you mean..."

Riku chuckles, nudges him towards the door to the stair case. "Just go talk to him."

_What would Roxas... want to say to me?_

* * *

"Hey Sora. Where've you been?" Roxas smiles, sits upright on the loft-bed's couch, and puts down his book. "I didn't see you leave the dorm before, so when I got back I was a little surprised to see-"

"Roxas, I need to talk to you." The brunette interrupts, walking over to sit down next to his roommate. He staggers a little, a bit nervous to hear what Roxas wanted to say. Riku made it sound like it was pretty damned important, so he had to admit – Sora was a little uneasy. "It's something kind of important..."

"Riku told you, didn't he?"

_I swear to god his little psychic thing he's got going on there is starting to get annoying._

Sora stutters, eyelashes fluttering. "Okay, how did you...? And... okay, do you have fucking ESPN or something?"

The blonde laughs, reaching out to pat his roommate on the head delicately. "...it's called ESP Sora. ESPN is a sports network, and no. I don't. I just had a feeling you'd figure out sooner or later."

_ESPN. Smooth move, Sora._

"Ah. So then..." he tries to word his question correctly. "It... was... you...?"

"Well, Sora..." All of a sudden Roxas stands up, grabs the cloak from his drawer, slips into it quick and throws on the hood. _Yep. It was him alright._Sora thought to himself the second he saw how well it fit him. In a few steps he was kneeling in front of Sora, cupping his cheek and pulling him close for a kiss that seemed... different than the other morning. Possibly more loving. Why?

Well, perhaps it's because there's no blindfold on his eyes and it doesn't seem so much as rape anymore.

Moments later, he felt them part of what felt like hours of gentle kissing. The expression on his roommate's face was an unreadable emotion Sora's never seen Roxas demonstrate before; it was kind of refreshing to see his guard down like this. "Does _that_not answer your question?"

"W-wait a second, so when you were talking about it before you were...? A-and the whole guessing thing... you had me under the impression it was a girl so weren't you...?"

"Lying? Yeah. Sorry 'bout that." he presses his lips gently against his forehead and relishes the slight flush of pink on Sora's cheeks it earned him. The kid can be seriously cute sometimes.

Sora thinks a minute. "So... you... like guys?"

"Eh. I guess." The blonde brushes a few loose pieces of hair from Sora's forehead and leans in to place another gentle kiss on his lips, one that lasted much longer than the other. "At the moment it's just you though. Can't exactly help it; there's something about you, Sora."

Sora couldn't help but wrap his arms around his neck to pull him in for another kiss.

* * *

**Sora: Cute way to end the chapter, Miku **  
**Me: Inorite?**  
**Roxas: *_***  
**Sora: ._.**  
**Me: Hee hee... you better run, Sora. While Roxas is getting his rape-face on, read and review, 'kay? The more people who read and don't give feedback, the more Sora's getting raped over here... I mean seriously, it's like an AkuRokuSoKu gang bang in this room _ Scary stuff, man (shudders)**


	7. Things Get Slightly More Complicated

**Author's Note: It's 1:51 am on Christmas Day. I wanted to make SURE I posted this before I pass out again. **** ON WORD THIS WAS 5 PAGES LONG! So I cut the end and meshed it in with Chapter 8. I promise you that you will love it.**  
**But you can still hate me, cause I'll cut it here.**

**HAVE A MERRY FUCKING CHRISTMAS!**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**Things Get Slightly More Complicated**

_"Stress is when you wake up screaming and you realize you haven't fallen asleep yet "_**  
**

* * *

When she heard the news, boy was she pissed.

What was she doing wrong? I mean she's absolutely gorgeous, maybe as far as saying she's totally flawless, and she's got a personality that's knocked the noblest of men off their feet. She's got a perfect smile, a hot body, eyes bluer than the Mediterranean sea, and he still won't look at her. Not even a glance.

What. The. Hell.

Kairi is always nice to him, to both of them, and now she hears some stupid rumor that **both**Roxas and Sora are an item now? Oh no. No, no, no that just doesn't work for her. A couple days ago Sora's eyes were on her, and she got all the attention she deserved to have. Now he won't even spare her a glance in class. What the hell? Is she not good enough anymore? Did he just replace her with freakin' Roxas or something? Whatever happened to that cute, flustered, STRAIGHT boy (who couldn't pry his eyes off her) she'd met that first day of school?

Ugh.

It's been four weeks. Four long, painful weeks of constantly trying to win both of them over. Sora's been practically ignoring her and Roxas, as usual, is playing his I'm-too-cool-for-you card on her. He's been playing the hard to get game for the past four years she's gotten to know him better, and she's starting to get bored. It's just in her nature; when a game gets boring she just ditches it. But if the prize at the end is good enough, she cheats her way through.

None of her tricks or cheats seem to work on this one, though. What has she been doing wrong? She tries the nice act but Roxas brushes her off. She tries the sympathy game but he doesn't give her the light of day. She's tried jealousy but he never seems to care enough to do anything about it. Every game in the book and the boy hasn't ONCE laid his eyes on her without that look she hated so much.

Why is it that Kairi wants what she can never have? _Never? Well, I wouldn't say that. There are ways, of course... But I think the first thing I've got to do is win Sora back over._

And knowing Sora, something like that should be waaaayyyy too easy.

* * *

"So, how are you and Sora doing?"

Roxas looks up from his Biology worksheet to his blonde friend and smiles; the very mention of Sora made his heart skip a beat. "Great. He seems more acceptant of it than the first couple days."

Naminè smiles too, sliding over her sketchbook to show Roxas the chibi doodle of them she'd been working on. The blonde boy chuckles; he can't imagine how hard it was to draw their hair... "You guys are so cute together, ya' know? Everyone's talking about you."

"Oh yeah? Like who?"

"For one thing Olette's been spreading the news like crazy. Hayner's been bugging her for the four weeks you've been together to shut up about it." Naminè laughs, twirling a long lock of blonde hair on her pointer finger and pulling back her sketchbook to draw more. With a few expert strokes of the pencil, she'd drawn a very silly looking chibi Olette on the paper, hearts bulging out of her eyes with a very angry Hayner in the background, and Roxas couldn't help but laugh when he saw it too.

"You know how she gets with these kinds of things. Remember in seventh grade when she thought you and I were a thing?"

Roxas rolls his eyes and scoffs. "She wouldn't shut up about it for weeks..."

"Months, even."

They both burst into laughter at the memory of Olette trying to pry a confession out of Roxas. Olette was always a very... gossipy, loud kind of girl. Even since the day they'd first met in second grade, but that's a story for another chapter.

"Ah man, good times..." Roxas sighs, shaking off the last bits of laughter. "Seriously though; everyone's talking already?"

Naminè sighs, staring up at the blue skies above them. The weather was fantastic today, and she was glad to be here with Roxas when it wasn't raining or they had to flee inside. "Yeah. Though something's been kind of bugging me since the two of you got together."

Roxas looks up from his Biology worksheet again, over to his friend with a quizzical look. "...okay?"

"Kairi seems kind of... pissed off about you two being together."

The blonde boy shrugs. "How do you figure?"

"Well it's just that she's always annoyed when I mention your or Sora's name, and she's seeming kind of off lately. Seriously, the girl's pretty pissed off with you guys. Can't you go and talk to her or something?" Naminè asks with a gentle look in her eyes. She just wanted to be a peacemaker. She hated seeing Kairi like this, but didn't want to be a burden on Sora or Roxas...

"Eh." Roxas shakes his head, scribbles a couple answers onto his homework and looks forward towards the quad's fountain in front of them. "Sorry, Nami. Last time I tried to talk to Kairi about something didn't turn out very well. Remember how she went all female-rapist on me?"

"Well yeah but... I dunno... just make sure you keep an eye on Sora, okay?"

Roxas scoffs, turns back to his homework and tightens his grip on his pencil. "Believe me, I will."

* * *

Sora was sitting in his dorm like usual, playing Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days on his DS.

And that was when the ninjas attacked!

. . .

Nah, I'm just playing you. The only person that attacked was Kairi, when she burst into the room, tears flooding down from her eyes to her cheeks. Sora didn't even know how she managed to get into the boys' dorms! The girl must have connections or something... She sat there and cried, throwing herself into Sora's arms the second she ran in. "U-Um... Kairi...? Are you okay?"

She whimpers, snuggling into his warm chest. "No! My boyfriend broke up with me!" She cries, holding onto Sora tightly, wrapping her arms around him snuggly hoping for the reaction she wanted. False tears wetted the fabric of his Utada Hikaru t-shirt. She inertly smiles, the sick thrill of knowing her trick would work making her feel the most remote bit of joy inside her. It had to work; she even managed to schmooze her brother Reno into letting her into the boys' dorms to visit Sora. If that wasn't a sign, I don't know what is!

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that." Sora replied, patting her on the head but still not hugging her back. Something felt very off about this... but he didn't know what it was.

She looks up at him with tear-stricken, glimmering eyes and brought her face close to his, noticing that yes, Sora was getting flustered just the same as he used to. Even when he knew he had Roxas he still got a little uncomfortable around Kairi and that's exactly what she wanted to happen. "Me too... I just don't know what I'm going to do without him, Sora."

"Y-Yeah. What to do."

She brings her lips to his ears and whispers, still faux-sad, "Will you do me a favor as a best friend?"

Sora stiffens, visibly uncomfortable. "W-what?"

"Kiss me?"

* * *

Naminè was panicking. She couldn't get a signal to Kairi's phone when she called.

_Message C21: I'm sorry, but the number you have dialed it out of the service area and cannot receive your call. Please hang up and try again later. _

She was getting sick of constantly hearing that stupid message play over and over when she called her, and knew that Roxas was getting just as tired. "Anything yet?"

"Nope. Her phone is definitely on, it just says she's out of service range." Naminè sighs, dialing her phone number again and pressing the warm metal to her ear. "Damnit! If she's still in the dorms she should have service... Do you think her phone is off?"

_Oh my gosh._And then it hits Roxas. For two days there's been no service in the boy's dorms.

"Nami, we have to get to the boys' dorms. Now."

* * *

Sora's blue eyes were quite wide indeed. "Y-you w-want me to wha-what?"

The crimson haired girl kisses his cheek softly and loves the way he shudders and tries to move. She knows the effect she has on him and loves it; this is how it should be, so pretty soon she'll have Roxas like this too. She's sure of it. She won't stop trying. She always gets what she wants. "I said I want you to kiss me, So."

"B-But I'm dating Roxas, Kairi..." he stutters, still numb. His body was betraying him; he wanted to get out of here as soon as he could but he couldn't get himself to move. What the hell?

"Oh? Well..." she brings her lips in close to his, stares devilishly into those widened, azure eyes and says with a flirtatious chuckle, "He doesn't have to know, Sora. Besides, I don't see him anywhere."

Sora honestly didn't know what to do at this point. He just snapped his eyes shut and tried his hardest to wake-up. But everytime he clenched his hands into fists and tried to wake him from what felt like one pretty sick, sweet nightmare, he couldn't come to grips with reality.

There seriously was no escape... was there?

* * *

"S-Sora!"

The door to dorm 108 flew open, revealing a close-to-kissing Sora and Kairi. Naminè's jaw nearly fell to the floor when it dropped and Roxas looked so pissed off it seriously wasn't even funny. Not even kidding; I have never SEEN Roxas so mad. Kairi, however, had the sickest, most demonic smile on her face as she pushed Sora off her and loped over toward Roxas, faux-tears still running down her cheeks.

"Roxas, I'm glad you're here... Sora just tried to kiss me and I told him it was wrong since you two were dating but he wouldn't listen and I didn't know what to do!" she cried, still trying to sell her little act off to win over the two of them. Slowly and surely, the blonde boy made his way to the other side of the room, towards his brunette boyfriend and Kairi inertly smiled; had she done it?

He helped him up and stared him directly into his eyes, the anger from before moving from his eyes to his mouth, residing in his voice. "Sora, I'm sorry." The brunette's heart nearly dropped when he heard him start to speak.

But all depressed thoughts ceased when their lips met, soft and gently but fervent all the same. Something about this kiss, though, felt different to Sora, like there was a new found passion neither of them knew about this entire time. Gradually they grew more and more into the kiss, quickly forgetting why they were kissing in the first place and wrapping their arms around each other, pulling each other further and further into it.

By the time Roxas's tongue had found Sora's, Kairi had already stormed out of the room.

* * *

Algebra class never felt less intimidating to Sora.

He used to walk in to be greeted with death glares and Kairi-related paranoia, but now he walked in to be greeted by his boyfriend, who sat in the seat behind him. Sometimes Roxas would poke at the back of his neck with his pencil just to get a giggle out of him, other times they passed notes or snuck out to the hallways just to talk or be alone. Sora wasn't exactly all that worried about Kairi anymore...

But Roxas was always on the alert. Seriously, he's like a fucking dog around Sora; he's always so protective of him and as annoying as it can be sometimes, it really gets to the brunette. He knows he cares, and it makes him happy beyond all measurement or meaning of the word.

Their days usually started when the announcements blared at them to start getting ready for classes, and when they had free time left over from preparing themselves for the day; they sometimes managed to wrestle each other into a somewhere-around-20-minutes make-out session before hurrying off to their period one classes. They'd sit together at lunch and talk about their day, etc, and when they got back they'd invite over a couple friends to study together. Eventually everyone left so the two of them would curl up to watch a movie. Sora typically fell asleep first, so Roxas was always the one to put him back in his bed and shut down.

Things were... simpler than they were before. But little did they know Kairi had only made things more complicated when she left the room that day...

* * *

**Axel: ...thought you said this Chapter was about me!**  
**Me: I know I know. I'm sorry. the NEXT two chapters are all about you and Roku-chan, kay?**  
**Axel: Fine...**  
**Me: We good? No chances I'll wake up on fire this Christmas morning?**  
**Axel: No worries, we're cool. Besides, Roxas took all my lighters anyways... -_-;**  
**Me: Mean! You should ask Santa for more!**  
**Roxas: DON'T GIVE HIM IDEAS**  
**Kairi: Keep it down, I'm sleeping -_-**  
**Roxas: So like, are you just a natural bitch or do you have to work at it?**  
**Kairi: (death glare) WHAT?**  
**Roxas: Hm?**  
**Me: O_O Can you feel the RokuKai love in air?**  
**Roxas: Yeah, Miku... I'm feelin' something, and it ain't love (Sora not included in that statement)**  
**Sora: I feel so wanted :'D Read and review, you guys. Feel the love~~~**


	8. Pyros Don't Like Water

**Author's Note: YEESS! I FINALLY GOT TO POST THE CHAPTER! I just love how fluffy it turned out to be. This is the only chapter I actually planned out in the beginning, too. I hope you guys like it~!**

**Axel: (in his emo corner) Do I get a chapter yet?**

**Me: Yes, Aku-chan. You're in this one. :)**

**Axel: (squee)  
**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

**Pyros Don't Like Water**

_"Life is a rainbow. You need the sun and rain to make its colors come out."_

* * *

"So Roxas, I heard you and Sora have been together for a while. A month, am I right?"

The blonde turns around at the sudden question, releases the tension in his eyes and smiles at the red head behind him. Roxas chuckles. "Lemme guess, Olette told you?"

"No. My sister did."

_His sister? As in... Kairi? _

Roxas's heart nearly stopped beating. "Oh god..."

"Look, I'm not mad or anything." Axel takes a sip of his water bottle and leans up against Roxas's now closed locker. How he managed to smuggle any kind of beverage past the hall guards, he'll never know. "Just kinda confused as to why I'm the last person to know."

"Axel it's just that..."

"Just that what?" he asks, a scowl in his voice that made Roxas well aware that when he said he wasn't angry, clearly he was lying. The red head had Roxas cornered against his locker, an arm on either side of his shoulders locking him in so he couldn't avoid the question. "It so big a deal that you two are together you didn't want to tell me? We're _best_friends, Roxas. You know you can't hide anything from me."

Roxas tries to mimic the anger in his friend's eyes. "Why are you pissed off about this?"

"Because my best friend is hiding things from me; why do you think?"

"Axel, I don't see the big deal..."

His face gets closer to Roxas's, his tone of voice growing more and more wrathful by the second they stared into each other's eyes. "The big deal is you've been hiding this from me for a month. A freakin' month, Roxas."

"So! Since when does my love life concern you?" Roxas pauses a minute, thinks his words through. "You know what else I don't get?"

"What?"

"Why is it you care so much if Sora and I are dating?"

Things get quiet. Like scary quiet. Roxas didn't like it one bit. He could see the slightest flush of red on his best friend's cheeks and an unreadable expression written across his face. The arms that had Roxas cornered into his locker slowly fell back to the red head's sides. Axel takes a deep breath. It took him a lot not to just blurt everything he wanted to right then and there.

"I don't."

Roxas watched as the red-head disappeared in the crowd of people in the halls.

_What was that about?_

* * *

Sora started to notice something unusual.

He hadn't seen Axel around their dorm, and Roxas hadn't been out as much as he usually is for a couple days. For the past two days, his roommate just got back from classes and read in silence. Sometimes Sora would sneak over and read with him, sometimes he got back and Roxas was sleeping.

_Did something... happen?_

Everytime he asked Roxas about it, he wouldn't say anything. He didn't really talk about it, and when Sora asked in specifics about Axel he just gave him a kiss and told him not to worry about it.

That only makes him worry more.

* * *

Night had fallen.

Dorm masters were already doing their dorm checks, room by room to make sure no one had snuck off during the night. It would have been an incredibly successful night; no one had gotten out of their dorms and not a single student was out of place.

That is, until the check room 125.

"We're missing a student." Cloud said with a sigh, crossing his arms across his chest as he stepped out of the abandoned dorm.

"Which one?"

"Axel."

Reno chuckles and takes a look out the window. "And that surprises you?"

"..Reno, where is he?"

"Just leave it alone, Cloud."

"You didn't exactly answer my question."

He turns to his blonde friend and chuckles, a devilish grin on his face. "Room 108."

* * *

"Please excuse my intrusion." the red head mumbles to himself.

He scanned the room quickly, until his eyes stopped when they saw a little blonde wrapped in a frenzied checker-board blanket. Axel smiles, takes a deep breath and slowly makes his way to Roxas's sleeping form.

The blonde teen was truly a sight, even unconscious like this. His hair, still spiky and crazy, was messy; the hairs on the back of his neck statically clung to his pillow. Those stunning azure eyes were shut gently, his lips parted as he took little, short breaths. Moonlight grazed his creamy vanilla skin, shined the tiniest bit of light on his face. Axel smiles, brushes a few loose pieces of hair from his face. His hand never came back to his side, though; instead it gently cupped his cheek. He watches an unconscious Roxas lean into the touch, a slight smile creeping onto his parted lips.

"Man..." he whispers to no one in particular, then takes in another deep breath. "You're so cute, Roxy. I know how much you hate it when I say that, but you're adorable. The most beautiful thing I've ever laid my eyes on."

The unconscious boy groans sleepily, murmur something along the lines of, "I'm not cute..."

Axel laughs, takes in the beauty his friend was emanating. "Oh, but you are. I've always thought that about you. Every minute of every day since we first met in grade school." He pauses. "Actually, I've thought a lot about you lately. You haven't left my mind for the past 3 years, and _man_ is it getting a pain. I can't look at anything without it reminding me of you." He points to the window, the sky waiting behind it. "The stars remind me of your eyes, even though they don't come close to the shine in yours. Every face I see I want to be yours. You drive me to the brink of insanity sometimes, kid. But... for a while, I didn't get it. Why are you always on my mind? What did all theses inner thoughts mean? Well, I talked with Reno about it, and..." his voice trails off when he hears Sora tossing in the bed across the room.

He waits a minute until he hears the light sounds of snoring and continues. "...he said I'm in love with you, Roxas." he lets a breathy sigh, uses his free hand to hold the blonde's. Roxas stirs a little, but quickly softens his expression when his friend runs his thumb across his bottom lip. He unconsciously moans the most hushed, hardly audible sound possible, which brings a smile to Axel's lips. "And I realized... he's not wrong. I got mad at you because, well, let's face it; I'm a hot head. I was jealous of Sora, I suppose. D-Don't get me wrong, he's a nice kid, and I want you to be happy but..." the grip on his hand tightens a little.

"Can't you be happy with me? I-I'm in love with you, Roxas. I have been since one day and I'm always thinking of you. If you want Sora, that's fine with me but... I just want you to be happy. I needed to tell you all this; I'm tired of holding all these stupid, mixed emotions back. I love you, Roxas. I really do..."

Axel looks down at his face again, takes in his love's beauty, and kisses the top of his forehead gently. But his lips, like his hand, never left his face and instead began to involuntarily travel south more. They ghost over those parted, sleeping lips. Once there, he placed the most gentle, loving kiss on those lips, knowing that Roxas won't even remember any of this but at least he'd have the pleasure of knowing this confession... those loving words... they'll always be on his lips from this kiss. Of course, he wished Roxas was awake to openly receive it, but he was happy to finally kiss him either way.

"I love you. Never forget that."

And on that note, he was gone.

* * *

"...ra! Sora snap out of it!"

He immediately snaps his head up to reveal his angry Biology teacher staring him down with vindictive eyes. "Huh?" Sora rubs his eyes sleepily and lets out a long yawn.

"Mr. Hikari, am I boring you?" Vexen asks with a snarl. Something about his voice inflection suggested that he shouldn't be honest with his answer.

"I-I'm so sorry! I'm just a little tired, is all."

"Sleep on your own time." Vexen tears out a paper from his pocket, slams it down hard onto Sora's desk. The impact of his hand against the desk was so loud Roxas could probably hear it from the other side of the school... He checks the other side of it; a detention slip. "Might I remind you this is 9th grade, Mr. Hikari. NOT Kindergarten."

* * *

_I love you. Never forget that._

Sora most certainly couldn't forget it. Hearing Axel's confession to Roxas last night... he hasn't stopped thinking about it since the moment he woke up and heard it.

_He's been in love with Roxas all this time but... Roxas likes me. Gosh, why do I feel like such a jerk?_ Sora thought to himself with a grimace as he sat in the dull, lifeless room. No one spoke, no one moved; the detention hall was totally and utterly devoid of life. Some couples held hands under desks, friends made faces and mouthed words to each other from opposite ends of the room, but not a single voice rang in the air. It was monstrously torturous. Sora played with the loose strings on his T-shirt, twiddled his fingers, fidgeted in his seat to the point where the detention ward - I mean, teacher – asked him personally to stay still.

He's never liked the silence. That tends to be the time in horror movies when all the bad stuff happens.

So haunting was this silence, and yet he just wanted to sit here and suffer rather than face Roxas again back at their dorm. _But... shouldn't I tell Roxas about last night? He deserves to know. But then again, what would he say? Would Axel be mad if I told him?_

Maybe... he should just leave it alone. Maybe he just just let Axel tell Roxas in himself in due time. But on another note... Roxas has a thing for Sora, so...

How would this work out?

* * *

"I'm back..."

The young brunette tosses his bookbag across the room to his bed, slips out of his pull-over and sinks down on to the soft couch.

"Oh, hey Sora." Roxas replies from the top bunk of the bunk bed on the other side. He had his eyes glued to a paper-back copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, glasses on and everything. "And how bad did school suck today?"

"To be honest? Pretty damn bad."

"Oh? That's not like you. Something happen?"

_A lot happened, actually. I just wish you would remember._

He lies, closes his eyes for a minute and yawns, still tired after a long day. "Nah... just sucked."

The sound of a book closing echoes across the room sends a sudden wave of panic running through Sora. He hears the faintest sound of feet hitting ground, light foot taps, and when he opens his eyes the blonde is on top of him, brushing their lips together ever-so-softly, staring him down with those all too familiar azure eyes. Their lips met, creating the most innocent, soft kiss, and for a moment Sora couldn't fight kissing Roxas back. They moved gently with each other, and gradually got a little bit more needing until those evil thoughts crept back into his mind.

_Never forget that._

He shies away, turns his head to avoid oceanic-eyes. His heart pounded in his chest; he actually had it in his head that Roxas could hear it from so close. Tan cheeks flushed pink and he tries his hardest to calm his heart-beating, tells himself that he shouldn't react this way to him.

Especially not to Roxas.

"Something wrong?" the blonde asks as his lips graze over the brunette's soft cheek. He was a bit surprised that he'd retreated like this.

"N-No! It's nothing... really..."

"You're lying to me, aren't you?"

He blushes. "N-No... but can you get off me now?" And with that, Roxas obliges. He sits next to his roommate, still a bit skeptical of his brunette friend. "Fine. You sure, though? You don't seem okay..." Sora sits up too, hugs his knees in his arms and lets out a long sigh.

_Say something, Sora. You have to tell him._ His thoughts bark at him.

"Roxas... I think that we should stop doing these things." he gulps, tries his hardest not to look at him. Every minute of silence between them felt like hours dragging by.

"Ah. I see."

"It's not you... it's me."

Roxas suddenly breaks into obnoxious laughter. "Wooowwww, Sora. Very creative break-up line."

"W-Well what else am I supposed to say?"

_If I tell him about Axel, then..._

He chuckles again, his laughter cutting through the room. "Really, it's cool."

_Really...? It's that easy?_

"...seriously?" Sora asks in disbelief, raising an eyebrow unbelievably. "Y-You're not mad?"

"Why would I have to be mad about something like this?" Roxas leans back more, swings his feet up onto the table. "So we broke up. I don't see anything to get angry about. Sure I'm disappointed but eh. There's nothing exactly to be mad for."

_Wow._ "Are you sure you're not Jesus or something?"

"No Sora. Not Jesus, but as close as it gets." he laughs, wearing a genuine smile that Sora could tell that yes, he was hurt, but he was being honest when he said he didn't mind. The easy part was over but...

What happens now?

* * *

_I love you. Never forget that._

Axel honestly didn't know what he was thinking that night. He felt good to get it off his chest but... he kind of wished Roxas were awake to hear it. He knew how Roxas would react; he knew how upset he'd be, that Axel'd probably ruin their entire relationship but... eh. He still wanted Roxas to know... holding something like that back for so long was killing him. Six out of seven years he's held back. Six. fucking. years. And Axel's usually one hell of a hot-head. How he'd managed to contain himself so long, he may never know...

The pyro felt something wet on his face. And for the first time in the past twenty minutes, it wasn't tears.

"A storm? You're kidding me..."

The red head grumbles as he treads through the gradually worsening storm, rushing from the football field all the way back to the dorms. He cursed himself for going so far out on a day like today; he was so busy being an emotional douche bag (yes I actually said emotional douche bag) that he didn't see the clouds moving.

Axel hates rain.

He can't help it. He's just always hated rain. The lightning is cool, and the thunder is music to his ears but rain? Rain is water. Water puts out fire. Axel likes fire. So rain?

No. Just no. Pyros just don't swing that way.

He bangs a left at the lunch hall, heading straight for the quad and towards the boys' dorms. Thunder echoed behind him, lightning snapped and he just sat there, trying to make himself ignore the rain and enjoy the other aspects of said storm. Upon finally reaching the dorms, he headed straight for the stair case. But when he saw room 108 beside him... he had that moment of "maybe I should apologize to Roxas but maybe not" and made up his mind to leave him alone.

His legs wouldn't bring him back up the stairs for about five minutes.

It was a miracle he didn't turn around once he got to the top and into his dorm. The pyro reaches for a light switch, turns the corner into his single dorm and noticed a blonde boy sitting on his bed.

_Roxas? _

"Hey Axel... I needed to talk to you, and you weren't in your dorm so I figured I'd wait for you to get back and..." his voice trailed off the second the room flooded with sudden light. The only sign Roxas had given Axel before he leapt into his arms were widened eyes and a flinch when the thunder came.

"Um... R-Roxas?"

He felt the younger boy pull back a little, cheeks deeply reddened. Roxas looks away from him, steps back as far he can. "S-Sorry about that..."

There was another clap of thunder and lightning. This time it was closer. Axel could hear the yelp his friend made when he jumped and buried his face into his arm for dear life. He could feel him trembling, and pulling him off his arm to wrap him in both of them he whispers, "Roxas are you... scared of thunder?"

"N-No... that's stupid. Only babies are afraid of thunder..."

Another clap. Roxas clenched onto Axel even tighter than before. The pyro chuckles softly, holding him close to himself in his arms and kisses the top of his head gently. "You big baby... it's fine. I'm right here." and when he said that, Roxas seemed to melt into his arms, still shaking the same as before but a bit more relaxed everytime his older friend shushed him and told him it's alright and that he's here.

He's always been there.

* * *

**Axel: That's more like it. I finally get my own chapter.**  
**Me: Noooooo, you share this one with Roxas. Your story comes later.**  
**Axel: (not-so-subtle arm around Roxas) I'm fine with sharing.**  
**Roxas: ...**  
**Me: Sharing is caring, ya' know. And btw, when I said Chapter 9 is about you I lied. But you do play a part in it.**

**Axel: ...**

**Me: Yeah, you hate me ^_^ Read and review, guys.**

**Axel: (sharpens the chakrams)  
**


	9. One Fair Reason Hayner Hates Me

**Chapter 9**

**One Fair Reason Hayner Hates Me**

"Jealousy is all the fun you think they had. "**  
**

* * *

It'd been a while since it was just the two of them.

Olette and Roxas pretty much never hang out alone, and it was getting annoying being around Hayner and Pence all the time. The brunette girl had invited Roxas over to her dorm on Saturday, which of course he happily accepted to come and the two of them wasted their time playing Black Ops on her Xbox live. The blonde had always liked that about Olette; though she was the girliest chick he'd ever met, she knew just how to get down with the guys sometimes. She's been like that since third grade when they first met, and he hasn't noticed her masculine side until now.

Why? Most likely because of her gossip-girl attitude had been hiding so long...

"Damnit!" she cries out when Roxas shot her again. "No fair, no fair! You can't camp, that's not nice! And stop rigging all the good spots with claymores!" _She's always been a sore loser too,_ Roxas thinks to himself with a chuckle. He watches his brunette friend through a mini-tantrum.

He laughs. "All's fair in love and war, Olette."

_Though I'm still not sure what love has to do with this..._

"Fine, I'll give you that one..." she grumbles to herself. "But I still want a rematch!"

Fifteen tries later and she's seventeen matches down. She hasn't won a single death match yet. You'd think that after losing so many times, she'd pick up Roxas's tricks. All he's been doing for the past three hours is camping around in the shadows and planting claymores in Olette's way-too-predictable hiding spots. When will she learn? By the nineteenth match she was getting frustrated, Roxas could tell. Everytime her team lost she got so pissed off she actually hit the blonde a few times in the arm. Of course, it didn't hurt, but it was funny nonetheless. Twentieth match and for once the Black Ops team had won. He sighed in contentment. _Thank God... maybe now she'll SHUT UP._ he thinks to himself with an inner smile but outer frown.

"Ha! Suck it, blondie!" she laughs, standing up to gloat. He stands too, chuckling just the same. _Sore loser... and a sore winner, isn't she? There's no break with this girl!_ Things seemed normal for the time being.

Until he felt hands on both of his cheeks. And suddenly soft lips met his roughly. The feeling of joy and over-ecstatic victory in the air was suddenly gone; both Roxas and Olette didn't move. They just sat there, lip to lip, staring at each other wide eyed. The brunette's hands leave his cheeks. He takes a step back. "Umm... Olette?"

There was a long moment of silence.

* * *

"She did WHAT?"

The red head nearly dropped his ramen onto his lap when he heard the blonde say what he did. It took a lot of will power for Axel to push his over-protective Roxas-related thoughts to the back of his mind. _Olette kissed Roxas? MY Roxas? That bitch isn't getting away with this! I swear, when I get my hands on her, I'll...! I'll...! Wait... but if I do anything Roxas may figure out about... DAMNIT._

The blonde sighs and tips the edge of his best friend's bowl upward more. Looking down Axel hadn't realized it was almost about to spill onto his crotch in the midst of his thoughts. _Oops._

"I-I don't know, I guess it just happened! One minute I was listening to her drone on about her ONE death match victory and the next it's... it's... EH!" he cries, head dramatically hanging down towards the ground. Axel pats him on the back, rubbing it gently and saying, "There, there" like a good friend as he listened to the blonde mumble to himself. It was almost surprising to see him like this; Roxas usually tends to be the, 'I'm-so-cool-cause-I-don't-care-about-what-girls-do-or-say-to-me' kinda guy but to see him like this after ONE little kiss is... just too funny. He's gonna have to hang this over his head for years to come. "I just don't get it, Axel. Why did Olette kiss me?"

He shrugs. "I dunno, she likes you? How the hell should I know; what do I look like, a girl whisperer? Go talk to her about it. I'm sure she's got more to say about it than I do..."

Roxas looks up at his friend with a dagger-like glare. "Thanks, Axel. Glad to have your support." Something about his tone implied sarcasm, but Axel ignore it and gave him a thumbs up and a toothy smile.

"You can expect nothing less from your BEST friend."

_I just hope for heart's sake Olette DOESN'T like him..._ Axel thinks to himself with a grimace. The last thing he needs is more competition...

* * *

"I think you should stop hanging out with Olette."

Roxas had to double take at his friend when he heard him. But then again... subtlety was never Hayner's specialty, so hearing him be so blunt wasn't that big of a surprise. "...huh?"

"You heard me." he spits, not looking directly at Roxas. For some reason, hostility sat in the air.

"Okay..." the blonde twirls the lollipop in his mouth. "And why can't I hang out with her? Is somebody... _JEALOUS?_" And Roxas couldn't help but laugh when he watched how angry Hayner had gotten about his remark. If there were ever a person in the world to have a worse temper than Axel, it'd be Hayner, hands down and without a second doubt.

He'd opened and closed his mouth a bunch of times like he wanted to say something but couldn't find his voice. At first Roxas thought he was about to explode in his face but was surprised to see his cheeks turning red and his voice shaking and speeding. Hayner was never really the kind of guy to feel any emotion besides contentment, self-pride, or pure rage. "Jealous! Me? That's just stupid! I-I hate Olette, you know that and I have nothing to be jealous about so just... drop it, okay?"

The blonde sighs, bites down on his lollipop again. "If you hate Olette so much, why do you still hang around her?"

"W-Well... b-because... I..."

He cheekily grins. "...like her?"

"Oh _hell_ no." he snaps back, punching Roxas hastily in the arm. "I tend to stay AWAY from girls like her. Besides, what the hell would I see in someone like her? We're opposites. It wouldn't work anyways. W-Why are we talking about Olette anyways?"

"Maybe because _you_ brought it up?"

"Whatever... point in case being I don't like her and you should stop hanging around with her. End of story."

The spiky-haired blonde shrugs, tossing his now candy-less lollipop stick in the trash can nearby. As calmly and coolly as possible, Roxas collects his books and shoves them back into his messenger bag and stands. He walks towards the study-hall door and stops just under the archway. Turning his head towards Hayner slightly, he says with a chuckle;

"Fair enough. But about you and her not working out, you'll never know until you try it."

* * *

Miku: (sighs) A month... it took me so long to get this up.  
Hayner: ...what the hell it took you that long to write THIS?  
Roxas: Yeah, Miku, this is awful.  
Miku: Up yours, man... I've got writer's block -_-  
Axel: HOMYGOSH I actually had a part in this short piece of crap you call a chapter!  
Miku: SHADDUP ABOUT IT SUCKING OR ROXAS ENDS UP WITH XION IN THE END  
All: (dead silent)  
Miku: Welcome to the Black Parade, my dear.  
Xion: Thanks...

**You guys are gonna hate me for this... but I cut it there. Not only because I've procrastinated this too long and have no idea what to write after this scene, but also because I need to MOVE THIS FREAKING STORY ALONG! I haven't even gotten into Xion's story yet. Hell, she isn't even in the story yet! So, expect an appearance from our favorite AkuRoku road-block in chapter 10 **

**Love and bunnies,  
Miku**


	10. My First Kiss Went a Little Like This

**This chapter is dedicated to Andrea! Thank you, dearest, for your donation! Lots of love from Roku-chan~! **

**Author's Note: I'M SO SORRY ITS SO LATE. IM SORRY IM SORRY IM SORRYYY! I've been swamped lately. With Miku stuff. Yes, I said Miku stuff. WANNA FIGHT ABOUT IT? (shot)**

**Chapter 11 is already half done. So proud of myself right now. Sorry for the slow updates.**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

**My First Kiss Went a Little Like This...**

_"Stolen kisses require an accomplice. "_**  
**

* * *

"Remind me again why you chose THIS movie?"

The brunette glares over at the silver-headed teen with an irritated look in his eyes. Riku and Sora had rented some chick flick Kairi told them about, 'The Notebook'. All they knew was it was some sob-story about a couple of better-than-average-looking teenagers falling in love like every other stupid teen chick movie out there and that Kairi wouldn't SHUT UP until they forced themselves through it. And, to be totally honest, Sora heard it was good. Part of him wanted to watch it. But he'd never tell Riku that; as if the silverette didn't make fun of him enough...

Said brunette plops the disc in the DVD player and heavily sighs. "We're watching it because Kairi said to."

"Two words for you Sora; lap dog." Riku dryly chuckles, expression never changing from his usual kill-me-now look. "To think, even after the Roxas incident you'd still swoon over her. She doesn't even have to throw you a bone to make you roll over."

_...did he just call me a dog?_

A blush crept along his cheeks as he threw himself on the couch next to his childhood friend. The leather of the seat was soft against his back as he sunk into it. "What's that supposed to mean? I don't like Kairi like that, and you know it! And no, ESPECIALLY not after the Roxas incident."

_Roxas..._

His heart skipped a beat at the sound of his name. And not the good way, either. It hurt. Like, a lot. He could almost see the expression that twisted across his face.

"...you okay?"

_And, quite frankly, Riku can see it too._

He forced a smile on his face as thick as it could go. "Just fine, why do you ask?"

"Because you look like a fucking Cheshire cat. What up?"

He fought back the urge to just burst into emotion. Instead, he took a fist full of popcorn, shoved it in his mouth, and turned to the screen. Sora could almost _feel_ Riku's death glare. "Nothing. Let's just start the damned movie, already..."

_I don't wanna talk about it, isn't it obvious?_

* * *

Halfway through the movie, Riku totally passed out.

He just dropped dead the second Allie started talking about her feelings for Noah. Not even kidding, there was hardly even a pulse on the kid. For about three seconds, Sora thought he was legally dead. Science says a person can't die of boredom, but Riku proved that theory wrong... CLEARLY. Said brunette, however, forced himself through the entire thing. They'd make jokes and he'd throw a sarcastic chuckle at the characters (who he realizes, due to lack of sensation) that couldn't talk back.

Riku came back around the time Noah and Allie kissed for like, the seven BILLIONTH time in the movie. That was also about the same time he and Sora agreed to shut it off.

The silverette yawned loudly, a bit more dramatically then he initially meant to. "Seriously, who can sit through TWO HOURS of this mushy crap?"

His brunette friend snatches his Dr. Pepper from the table and takes a few long gulps.

"Says the guy who was asleep for three fourths of the movie!" Sora laughs, playfully slapping his friends arm and wincing when Riku hit back. Even when they were just playing, Riku hit HARD. "But I don't blame you. The entire movie was just sob-story, kiss, sex, conflict, resolution, twist, more sex, even MORE sex, old people porn, and look; a happy ending! La-di-freaking-da..."

Okay, both of them had to laugh at that.

"You wish you'd passed out."

"Yeah. I do. That was awful. It was just kissing and old people. Ugh."

"Wow, how romantic." Riku snorted in a sarcastic tone. "If old people porn doesn't get your girlfriend going I don't know what will."

Sora burst into laughter. It was getting harder and harder to finish his Dr. Pepper when Riku was making jokes. "Can't forget the fifteen thousand dramatic first kisses."

"Yeah, how do you have more than one first kiss?" Riku takes a couple fists full of popcorn and shoves them into his mouth. "How many times are you allowed to not count a kiss as your first?"

_A kiss is just a kiss, right? If it's your first it's your first._

The brunette shrugs. To be honest he didn't think you could do that. "I dunno."

_But I wonder..._

Looking over at his friend with a questioning glare, Sora taps him on the shoulder. "Hey, Riku?"

"What?" He manages to breathe out as he gulps down his soda.

"Who was your first kiss?"

Aside from the stifled sound of Riku nearly choking on his Coke, silence flooded the room in a matter of seconds. The friendly aura it had taken so long for Sora to build around Riku shattered just as quickly, and he hated the death glare his best friend was giving him. Sora never liked the quiet, and having Riku there really wasn't helping the cause. Why would he be so sensitive to Sora asking? Was it a secret or something?

_Was it someone I know?_

"...well?"

Azure met turquoise eyes in a glare that almost looked... lost. But a layer of hope sat thin in his irises. "Why do you care?"

"Because I'm your BEST friend. Emphasis on BEST!" Sora says proud, popping out his chest dramatically with a superhero-like pose. The silverette all but rolled his eyes and it almost looked like he was... blushing? Nothing too noticeable, but his cheeks were definitely pinker than usual.

_Seriously, man? I thought you said Riku doesn't blush!_

Sora nearly pounced over the couch to get in his face. The rosiness on his cheeks just kept getting darker and more noticeable. Something about it agitated him. "Well? Don't just sit there and blush about it, answer the damned question!"

_Is he... embarrassed? Oh that is freaking rich._

The brunette's expression softened as much as it could, and he took in a deep breath before saying, "If it makes you feel any better, I'll tell you my first kiss. It was Roxas. Back when we were dating, remember?"

Like he'd planned, the sudden I-still-wanna-kill-you look took over his face. "Well no shit, even I knew that." He turned his face in the other direction. "I've never kissed anyone before." he stated slowly, not bothering to look Sora in the eyes when he said it.

_What? No way. He's gotta be kidding me. The amazing, lady-killer Riku's never kissed a girl before? Complete and udder bull CRAP._

"W-What do you mean?" Sora chuckles nervously. "But you've been with a ton of girls! You've never kissed _them_?"

Riku just lets out an exasperated sigh. "Nope. I've been saving it for one person. Someone who means a lot to me." As he says this, Sora looks over at him with widened eyes.

_So he DOES like someone, does he?_

"So... who is it?" Sora scoots closer to him, getting close to his face in attempts to make him look at him. "Does this girl like you back? Have you ever even tried asking her?"

Something about the way Sora had asked it tore a chuckle from Riku's throat. "Yes well..." he chuckled even louder. What was so funny...? "_She_ isn't exactly the smartest _girl_ out there... Might even call her a bit of an idiot."

"If she's really that stupid, what's so great about her?" Sora asks with curious eyes. Maybe it was just Sora, but ditsy girls are the worst...

"We've got history, I guess." he sighs, looking over at his friend. His heart thumps in his chest when he noticed Sora's face so close to his. "And remember that, 'you're-10-meters-too-close-to-Riku' rule we have?"

"What about it?"

"You're breaking it."

* * *

As of now, Sora officially HATES Riku's guts. See, when Kairi met up with them later to ask them what they thought, Riku mistook that as an opportunity to tell her how much the movie sucked. You'd think that Mr. Lady-killer Riku would know that when a girl asks for your 'honest opinion', she wants you to lie and fluff up the truth. Seriously. He's been with enough girls to figure that out...

"How can ANYONE hate the Notebook?" she practically screamed in Riku's face. She'd been rambling about how, and I directly quote, 'fantabulastically romantic' the movie was for the past ten minutes. Sora's never seen Riku so annoyed. Seriously.

Oh yeah. If you thought Riku looked pissed before, you'd hate to see his face now. He makes Satan look like NOTHING on the pissy-o-meter.

Kairi sighs, brushes a few strands of hair from her face and crosses her arms tightly against her chest. "I don't get you, Riku... It was so cute. Probably like my favorite movie."

_I wonder..._

"Hey, Kairi?"

She turns away from her prey. (Riku was fake choking her from a distance in the background...) "Hm?"

"Who was your first kiss?"

Clearly he keeps catching people off guard when he asks that, cause her eyes widened and she stared at him as if he'd just grown a second head on his shoulders. "Um... Roxas. Why do you ask?"

_. . . Did she just say Roxas?_

"No reason. Just curious... I asked Riku too and- WAIT WAIT WAIT _WHAT_? When was this? How? Why?" He didn't realize how much he was using with hands until he felt the back of his hand collide with Riku's face. That earned him a punch in the neck, of which he admits REALLY hurt.

"Couple years back. Nothing too big. We just wanted to try it." She smiles longingly, twirling a strand of hair around her index finger.

_No wonder she likes him so much._

"So... no strings attached, then?"

The red head chuckles, twirls her hair again, and sighs. "Well... I guess not. If there are any feelings they're totally one-sided, I can assure you that."

"Oh. I see."

Suddenly Sora felt... kinda bad for her. He felt like... like he knew how she felt.

_Like how Axel probably feels for Roxas._

"I should probably get back to my dorm. You too, Kairi." The brunette yawns, stretching his arms behind his head and forcing out a yawn. "Wouldn't want Nami to get worried, would ya'?" (Not just that, but Sora wanted to ask Roxas about this first hand...)

There was a pause before Kairi spoke.

"Yeah. I guess so."

_Why is he always in here...?_ Sora thought to himself as he opened the door to find Axel sitting on the couch again. Nothing out of the ordinary; the kid practically lived in their dorm anyways... He was next to Roxas, a not-so-subtle arm wrapped around his roommate's shoulders (though he didn't seem to care enough to move away) and both of their feet were on the coffee table. A checkered throw was messily laid across their laps. And no matter what Roxas said, how much he would deny it had Sora pointed it out, he was definitely resting his head on Axel's shoulder. Almost... lovingly.

_Hard to believe they're not a couple._

"'sup, Sora?" The red head grinned, slyly pulling Roxas closer to him. Sora rolls his eyes.

"Your sister made Riku and I sit through some chick flick called The Notebook, that's what's up." The brunette runs his fingers through derezzed chocolate spikes and slumps down on his bed, bag and jacket lazily scattered onto the floor. "It was awful. If I had to choose between watching it again or chewing broken glass, I'd probably chow down on a window."

Roxas chuckles. "That bad, eh?"

"See what I live with?" Axel replies.

"Yeah... and you know what's weirder?"

The two teens on the couch look over at him.

"She told me Roxas kissed her."

The death-glare Axel gave Roxas was scarier than Riku's smile. Seriously. There was RAPTURE in those eyes. If I could give World War III a facial expression, it'd be Axel's. "Did he, now?"

"It didn't mean anything. Just a stupid kiss a couple years back. Besides, it wasn't my first or anything. Just wanted to see what it was like to kiss a GIRL."

Something about the way Roxas put emphasis on 'girl' ran a chill up Sora's spine. "If your first kiss wasn't Kairi... who was it?"

"Axel. When I was little, we were joking around." The blonde elbows his friend in the arm. Axel laughs. "It was just an accident. Fell over and whatnot."

_Wait... what?_

"What do you mean Axel?" Sora snaps, voice coming out as a shocked shriek rather than a manly shout as he'd intended. His roommate all but laughed at him, turning around and smiling.

"No worries. It didn't mean anything. Stupid accident."

Of course, the brunette's eyes automatically shifted to look at Axel. In the past few months he'd been living in his dorm, he'd never seen him look so hurt. Yet at the same time his lips curved into a grin and he chuckled just the same.

"Exactly," the red head nods, teeth biting down on his lip. "Didn't mean a thing."

* * *

_**[A/N: Sora had left to go to the library to cram, leaving Axel and Roxas alone in the dorm.]**_

"You know I'm still mad at you for stealing my first kiss."

Roxas chuckles, eyes never leaving the TV screen in front of them. Axel throws him a glare and pauses their round of death match to turn and face his friend. Toxic green eyes met oceanic azure as he gazed.

"What, you didn't enjoy it?" he chuckles, resting a hand on Roxas's shoulder as the boy laughed. A smile crept its way onto his lips when he heard Roxas's laughter. His giggles, so cute, rang in his ears and he snickered a little too. Happiness looked best on him...

"No, stupid... why'd you do it anyways?" the blonde laughs, curiosity glazing the oceans of his eyes. Roxas, in Axel's opinion, was beautiful in every meaning of the word.

_Calm down. You don't want to lose your cool._

"Just wanted to try it, see if kissing a guy was any different from a girl."

Roxas just nodded, turned his face away and sighed. The red-head all but stared as sunlight beamed on profile. Vanilla skin twinkled, creamy and seemingly soft. The usual azure in his eyes shined three tints brighter; it reminded Axel of the sea... But even worse were the lips that curved into a smile, that parted, so gently, so softly, with every breath he took.

_Crap... Just calm down. S-Stop staring. He's your best friend; stop thinking like that. It doesn't matter if his eyes are so captivating. It doesn't matter if his lips are right there._

_None of it matters.  
You just can't snap._

* * *

"You know, Roxas... I enjoyed it."

He couldn't believe the words that forced themselves from Axel's mouth. Roxas turned his head to face him slowly, his eyes hazed in curiosity.

"W-What do you mean by that...?"

Roxas wanted to say something else... but found it impossible with Axel's lips on his own...

* * *

**Roxas: YOU CHOOSE TO END IT HERE?**  
**Miku: Yep. Suck on that, honey.**  
**Axel: **  
**Xion: I'm not in the school yet... -_-; I thought you said I'd be in by now! Miku-chan! D:**  
**Miku: Nope. No worries, honey. You're coming.**  
**Xion: Good. **  
**Miku: Ice cream, anyone?**  
**(All scream yes)**  
**Miku: Axel gets this one (hands ice cream) and Roxas gets this one (hands ice cream)**  
**Roxas: ...is there a paupou fruit in this?**  
**Miku: ...Whhhaaa? No...**  
**Axel: No way, Roxy. What makes you think that?**  
**Roxas: The point of the star is sticking out the top...?**  
**(Miku and Axel make a hasty exit)**  
**Roxas: AND WHAT WOULD THIS ACCOMPLISH?**

Reviews are the Aku to my Roku ;P

**Axel: I rather like that one.**

**Miku: Thought you might, Aku-chan~**


	11. Bad Touch

**ONLY A MONTH? WOW! THAT'S THE FASTEST MY POSTS HAVE BEEN THIS YEAR! LAAAAAA! (shot)**

Oh my gosh. What the fuck is this I don't even know. The ending annoys me, but when you get there please go to the link and read the prompt I've set up. Sorry for the slow updates.

**-Miku-chan  
**

* * *

**Chapter 11**

**Bad Touch**

_Bad Touch - Physical contact that is upsetting and/or dis-pleasingly pleasurable to the receiver_

* * *

Hours. It felt like fucking hours.  
He was so lost in his thoughts, so confused, so flustered, that it felt like an hour Axel was kissing him. Even in the midst of confusion he found himself pressing back unsurely, hands trembling on his friend's shoulders to politely nudge him away. Roxas felt his heart stop beating when two hands wrapped around his wrists to hold them securely out of reach. Axel pressed the captive fists against his crush's chest; the blonde clenched them harder until his nails dug into his hands in frustration.

"W-Why are you…" Roxas breathlessly choked out between kisses, eyes finally opening to glare at his friend. His heart skipped a beat when toxic, ivy green eyes met the azure of his own. And he felt his breath hitch at the words he heard prior to a gentle kiss to his earlobe. He quaked anxiously.

"Because I love you."

The red head grinned widely, letting his tongue run along the shape of his ear; he relished the shuddering gasp that escaped the blonde's lips. _This is bad,_ he thought to himself, but as he saw the blush scattering itself across Roxas's cheeks he realized, _I've come this far; why not enjoy it more?_He did so love the scarlet color of his skin and felt a chuckle tear from his throat before pressing their lips together again. The addicting taste of his lips, so tantalizing, like forbidden fruit to him, kept drawing him in for more and more. He feels himself chuckle again, sadistic but smooth. They moved so gently against each other; even Roxas pressed back with the shyest amount of force.

That is, until he felt a tongue nudging his own, and a hand running up and down his thigh.

The blonde's eyes widened, and with his newly freed hand he shies away, breathing heavily and cheeks so red that he could illuminate the darkness. Axel's face was stretched with shock. _What did I just… W-What did I do?_Disappointed gnawed at the remnants of sanity in his mind as he watched the look of utter confusion, of hurt and disbelief, make its way onto his face, that reflected in his own eyes.

"R-Roxas…" he tried to speak, but words froze in his throat. He reaches out towards him, to pat his back, his head, ANYTHING to make him feel better. "I-I'm sorry… I-I just…"

The younger boy flinched backward more. Ouch. That… kind of hurt.

"Please… I-I didn't…" his voice was failing him. Thoughts slowed and slurred and stopped in place; the only sound in the room were gasps for air and fainted music from their unfinished round of Modern Warfare. Something (and Axel swore it was absolute shame) lay thick in the air they breathed; they couldn't look away from each other, their gazes piercing and faltering in communication.

Without a second thought, Axel fled.

* * *

"Time out. You did WHAT?"

Sora nearly choked on his ice-cream. Here he was, fifth period lunch, and Axel sat down only to drop a bomb like _that_? "W-why? How! What did he do?"

"I ran out before he could _do_anything, Sora." The red head spat, letting his thoughts depress at the memory of Roxas's frightened face. His heart sank just thinking about how much he hurt him… "He looked so scared. Probably worse than during that storm a couple nights ago."

_Back up; did he say storm? What storm? Like… the night he never came back?_

"I didn't know he's afraid of storms…"

"Nah, just the thunder."

_Why thunder? It's just a noise…_

The brunette sighs, runs his fingers through his chocolate brown spikes and glances over at said blonde, who was at another lunch table with Olette and the guys. Their eyes met for a split second, and Roxas shot him a smile before turning away. "Well yeah, he'd be scared; you kissed him out of nowhere, felt him up, and ran."

Axel just huffs. "Well the way you word it makes me sound terrible…"

_Because you are…?_

"Look, I'll talk to him for you, alright?" And as he says this, his red-headed friend throws him a glance, an eyebrow arched in surprise.

"…seriously?"

Sora nods.

Axel slaps him on the back (a little harder than playfully) and chuckles. "Thanks, man. Just don't tell him I told you about the whole thunder thing, got it memorized?"

* * *

Roxas cannot catch a break, I swear.

One day he's fighting off Kairi with a stick (metaphorically speaking of course; Roxas could never hit a girl), another Riku's making him take the fall for something he didn't even do, then he's finally with Sora, they break up, and the next he gets kissed by not only Olette, but now Axel? Man, oh man, the kid's disaster prone, poor thing.

Still, something about everything that was going on haunted Roxas.

_Because I love you._

What did he mean by that? He _loves_him? For how long? How much? Is he seriously… in love with him? So many questions gnawed at the scrap of sanity he had a claim to. Roxas, at this point, didn't even know what to think. The only person he likes romantically, sad enough, is still Sora. Has been from the start, is now at the end. It was just a stupid kiss and he didn't 'feel' anything when it happened. So… why is this Axel thing bugging him so much?

Does his heart pound when he think of Axel? Not nearly as much as it does for Sora. Well, I guess just now, but by the time this "kiss" thing blows over it'll beat regularly at the sound of his name.

Does he get butterflies in his stomach? Eh. Not so much. That's a little too girly for his liking.

Does he think of him? Well… yeah. A lot. Axel gives him something to worry about on a daily basis. More so than Sora, believe it or not. Perhaps it's because of the incident in fourth grade where he nearly blew up the Chemistry lab trying to make a baking soda/vinegar volcano. (Idiot should've known you don't need to light it on fire; it erupts on its own...)

Does he… like him? That's… questionable… at the moment, at least. Sora's the one he really likes, right? Right. Most definitely.

So… why can't get shake this feeling?

_I just… don't know…_he thinks with a grimacing sigh, runs his fingers gingerly through his hair, and focuses his attention to his book. The words on the page… he couldn't even read them at this point. They jumbled and illustrated the confusion he called his thoughts.

"Tadaimasu."

_Speaking of Sora…_

The blonde teen looks back up from his book and grins. "Hey, Sora."

* * *

_He doesn't seem any different from usual… maybe he's bluffing? I don't know, but I've gotta say something to him about this 'Axel' situation._

"So… I was surprised you and Axel weren't sitting together at lunch today…" From the corner of his eye he sees Roxas glaring at him. And in a less than friendly way, that's for sure. "And that he's not in our dorm mooching off us. Weird, right?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Nothing, just wondering if maybe you two were… fighting… maybe?"

He hated the sound Roxas made when he slammed his book closed. Hard cover book plus angry Roxas equals loud ass noise… "Look, it's nothing. Just leave it alone." Sora was surprised he hadn't denied anything; but was equally surprised at the look of death on his roommate's face. He'd never seen him that… well, pissed before. _There's no way someone can be THAT mad about one little kiss._

"I thought we were over this by now," Sora smiles as nicely as he can. "We're _friends._Which means you can tell me anything no matter how embarrassing, stupid, or illegal." He noticed the rolling of his eyes when he put emphasis on 'friends'…

Roxas rolled over onto his stomach, burying his face into his pillow. "Axel kissed me."

_Well, no shit…_

"That's it? That's seriously the end of the story?" Sora felt a giggle tear from his throat. "Your sole reason for Axel-induced rage? Just one kiss? That's silly."

Roxas huffed and buried his face further.

"Look, I don't get what you're so mad about. I mean, it's not like he hasn't before…" but his voice failed him when he remembered the night Axel came into their room. He _still_hadn't told Axel he was awake, so would it be okay to tell him about that night? Maybe… maybe it could help them resolve this "kiss" issue.

Sora could feel Roxas's glare when he shifted to look at him. "That was when we were kids, Sora. I told you already; it was just an accident."

_Axel's permission or not, I've gotta tell him..._

* * *

**Xion: (bitchin' mad) WHY THE CLIFFHANGERS? YOU'RE JUST PROCRASTINATING MY ARRIVAL, AREN'T YOU?  
Miku: I'm sorry Shi-chan! I-I drew a blank as to how to end Sora/Roxas's conversation, so until I can think of something, or someone ACTUALLY RESPONDS TO THE PROMPT AT THIS link ( .com/journal/39787406/ ) Chapter 11 ends here and the rest is in 12. So there.  
Xion: Gaaahhhhh I want _in_ already!  
Axel: I know how you feel. (pedo-longing glares at Roxas)  
Roxas: ...oh god I just got that...  
Miku: You bettah run, boy. (pats his shoulder)  
Axel: ^3^ ~ 3  
Roxas: T_T;;**


	12. Ember

**Chapter 12 - Ember**

_______Ember - the smoldering remains of a fire / the fading remains of past emotions_

* * *

_He's always been the only one I could tolerate._

Thinking back on the matter now, the statement was way too true. The red-head could remember every moment the spent in their lives together too vividly, when days ago he could barely remember the last thing Roxas said to him. He chuckles at his own inobservance. _What were you thinking; there's no way he would ever understand..._He thinks to himself with a grimacing sigh, letting the tip of his finger linger a little bit longer than he'd intended in the warm glow that came from his lighter.

It hurt. But it was a good kind of hurt. It took away the pain. _How much more emo can you get, Axel? _he laughs, switching fingers. He'd been doing this since as long as he could remember; what's the worst it can do now? Roxas had always yelled at him for burning his finger tips; it wasn't like it particularly hurt or anything. Come to think of it, Roxas just always yelled at him period.

_Whoa. _

"Stop thinking about him, Axel." he whispers to himself, glancing at the passing people who stopped to glance back at him. Every face he saw just made him want to see Roxas more. Why couldn't they be Roxas? _Don't know what you have until it's gone, right?_He thinks to himself, switching fingers yet again and watching, fascinated, at the flame dancing around his skin.

_Ain't that the truth..._

* * *

The day they first met left such an imprint on him it was as if he'd gotten hit with a bus.

It was middle school, about five years back. Axel was an 8th grader, if he remembered correctly, when Roxas came into his life. He remembered all those days he spent, seemingly happy at first glance. Don't get me wrong; Axel had friends. Dozens of friends. He was the guy all girls wanted and all the guys envied. There was nothing wrong with his childhood social life.

His clique consisted of Saïx, the classic 'big brother' figure of our story; Larxene, the bitchy-yet-somehow-expected-to-be-his-girlfriend character; Xigbar, the class clown; and Demyx, the youngest of them and the renowned prankster. They were all "good kids" if you asked anyone in the group, but for some reason everyone else associated them with mischief. If someone exploded a chemical in Chemistry, Axel would be the one to blame. If someone's out of school, Larxene supposedly took them out for looking at Axel the wrong way. If there's some kind of leak in the school, Demyx was trying his 'water sorcery' again. That's just how things worked in their school. Shit went down, people talked trash.

_Nothing but selfish rumors_, a young Axel thinks to himself as the tips of his fingers run through the flames.

"Hey, you alright?"

The young red-head tears his eyes from his lighter, looking over at a concerned-looking Saïx. He throws him his million-dollar smile and forces a laugh from his throat. "Yeah, man. I'm fine."

"You look like someone just drowned your goldfish." Xigbar added with a cheeky grin from the bench in front of him. "Don't tell me this is about that girl again."

"It's not, for the thousandth time." he sighs, turning his attention back to his lighter. He cringes as he realizes just how long his finger has been in the flame. "This is the third girl this week. I'm starting to feel bad."

Saïx chuckles. "Hey, you're the one who keeps turning all these girls down. Why don't you just say yes to one of them and get it over with?"

"Because they're all so... I dunno, _boring?_Besides, I'm not lookin' to date, Saïx." He twiddles his fingers under the heat of the flame once more, smirking to himself as it he heard it sputter. Next thing he knew the light was ripped forcefully from his hand. He looks over, angrily, at his best friend.

The golden eyed boy had his usual gloom-and-doom face on. "You keep doing that you'll end up burning yourself alive."

He smirks cheekily, snatching it back and bringing his face close to his friend's. "I think that's my problem; not yours, Sai." The glare he'd gotten from Saïx amused him so; somehow it reminded him of a starting ember, the fire inside of him only starting to burn.

"You say you're not lookin' to date, right? Then you should channel all that angst elsewhere!" Xigbar intervenes, pushing the two of them apart. He bites down, obnoxiously loud, on his lollipop. "What if I told there's a new kid?"

_New kid? Oh god, not another one..._"What if you did? Am I supposed to care?"

"Fresh meat, Ax. Cute new sixth grader."

He thought carefully about Xigbar's words. He's either serious, or making a gay joke. The red head chose the latter of the two. "Lemme guess. It's a boy."

"You read me like a book, bro." Chuckling in victory, the black-haired jokester wraps an arm around his neck and pulls him close. He purposely ignores the grimace that made its way onto his face. "Whaddya say we knock this kid down a few notches? Show 'em who's boss at this school?"

_Now this should be interesting._

The red head smirks. It sounded like a fun time, so why not? "Alright. I'll play along. When's he comin'?"

"Tomorrow. Ms. Amane's Homeroom. Think you can handle it?"

_Better than dealing with all these damn girls._

"Yeah. Let's take him down."

The plan was simple; they pick on the new kid until it gets boring. Axel wasn't usually one to be mean but hey; anything to get these chicks off his back, right? I mean, who wants to date a jerk? It's not like he doesn't LIKE being the school chick-magnet (trust me, he enjoys it to its fullest) he just gets sick of the same old crap. Girls these days are so sensitive! You tell 'em you can't return their feelings and BAM; Mob of twenty other chicks in your face bitching about how "mean" or "terrible" you are for hurting their feelings.

_Not my fault I don't like your bitch friend..._ the red head snarls in his thoughts after turning down yet another admirer. This one actually started crying. And he ACTUALLY felt a little bad for her. But that'd pass. It always passes. _Yeesh, it's the same old thing with the girls in this school. I'm almost starting to get bored..._He sighs, letting his back slouch against the wall and his body sink to the floor. He stared across the room at a happy schoolgirl/school boy couple. Fuck them and their happiness. The girl was smiling and giggling gleefully, the boy struggling to keep her from noticing the blush that made its way onto his cheeks. Why couldn't Axel smile like that with someone?

_This has got to stop._

The following day, the two made their move. Using the excuse that they just wanted to visit their old teacher, Ms. Amane (being the pushover that she always was) allowed them access to stay for the period. Not only did they get to amuse themselves by picking on this kid, but they get to miss Algebra, too? Oh, that is so rich.

"Settle down, class!" Ms. Amane called to that homeroom, and immediately he grinned like a cat over at Xigbar. They exchanged wicked glares before peeking over at the fresh tinder in their fire. _Prepare to get smothered,_Axel thought to himself before his eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

Looking back on the memory, he realized that he'd changed three times in his life; when Roxas came in, left such a mark on him; when he finally felt like they could be something more, through a lover's kiss; and when he went out.

_Whoa._ It was the only word he could use to describe his first look at the kid. I mean... Axel didn't usually look at guys like that but _damn_... the kid's gorgeous. Spiky blonde hair that swooshed in all directions, big blue eyes hazed in a thick fog of anxiety... he reminded him of someone he used to know. But that wasn't important now; what mattered was the beautiful blonde that just stepped into the building, a calm but nervous look plastered on his face. There wasn't a smile, nor a frown or anything. He looked so at peace but... somehow...

He resonated every emotion running through his head; Axel could sense how anxious he was, how scary it felt for him to be in a new place. How lost and different he was in a crowd of people who had no faces.

_Why does that feel... so familiar?_

"If you'd please introduce yourself?" the stricken teacher asks. The look on her face looked like that of a love struck maiden. It made Axel sick to his stomach watching a 20-year-old woman swoon over an 11-year-old boy.

"Pierce. Roxas Pierce. I'm transferring here from Iwatodai. Nice to meet you all." he said, calm as possible, his voice like the sweetest Siren's song in Axel's ears. All the girls in the room had their little "kakkoii" spasm and Axel all but rolled his eyes. _So... the new kid's a pretty boy, huh? Big whoop. What do I care about some angel-faced, too-cool-for-you kid?_But despite his vicious thoughts he couldn't tear his eyes off the boy. How could he? He was... stunning. Beautiful, even.

Ms. Amane had left the room for a meeting, so Axel and Xigbar were free to make their move. But when Axel opened his mouth to speak to the boy now sitting next to him, Xigbar interrupted. "Sup fresh meat?" the black-haired man snapped. Roxas all but stared at him, eyes darting from Xigbar to Axel, as if he were trying to guess their intentions, find out which one was most threatening.

The blonde boy's expression didn't change. He just shot him a lazy peace sign and sunk down into his seat. Axel held back a laugh when he saw Xigbar's eye twitch. He clearly didn't like being ignored.

"What's wrong, short stuff; cat got your tongue?" he says with a cheeky grin, almost desperate to get a reaction out of him. Axel was intrigued by this new kid; he refused to speak and watched with intrigue.

"I can speak just fine." the blonde replies, reaching into his bag. "However, I've got nothing to say to you." And from his checkerboard backpack he pulls out a book, opens to a random page and his eyes are suddenly glued to the words inside. Axel raises an eyebrow.

_Kid's got fire, I'll give him that._

Visibly annoyed, Xigbar waddled away, grumbling to himself. The red head chose to stay, however. This boy was... different, somehow. "Was there something you wanted?" Roxas asked, looking over the red head. "My lunch money? My sister? Anything to oblige my senpai." He says, rolling his eyes and mock bowing before Axel.

His comment felt like leaving his fingers in the flame too long. It was quick and sharp, but enough to make an impacting burn. _Sassy one, ain't he? And I always thought I was bad..._

"Nah." Axel began, leaning back in his chair a little. "Don't think my heart would be into picking on a new kid. A bit clichéd for my own personal tastes, got it memorized?"

The blonde looked up from his book again, letting his eyes lock with Axel's. Oceanic azures meet tropical ivy greens, and the two can't tear their eyes from each other for what felt like an eternity. Something about Roxas's eyes... called to Axel. They told a story, I guess. Their cool, cerulean color refreshing towards Axel's fiery personality. They dowsed the fires of his soul. He felt... right around Roxas.

"Axel."

Said 6th grader blinks, confused. "Huh?"

"My name. It's Axel." The young pyro gestures with his index finger towards the blonde's forehead. "Commit it to memory."

And there it was. That stunning smile, the most radiant, beautiful sight to be seen. "Alright, Axel. Consider it memorized." He said with a chuckle.

That was the first time he changed. For the first time in God-only-knows how long, Axel felt something inside him change. I know, I know; this is the part where I'm supposed to go all Dr. Seuss and say "his heart grew three times bigger that day!" and as cliché as it sounds, that's a little true. He felt a deep connection with this boy, this golden treasure bestowed and brought into his life...

A connection, so pure and true, that changed him. A connection that, no matter how innocent, he wanted to deepen. Much, much deeper.

A connection, he soon realized, that was impossible to further deepen.

* * *

The second time he changed, it tore his heart in two.

The smile he'd been so accustomed to seeing on his best friend's face wiped clean-off with just a simple touch of lips. He'd gone too far, the flames in his heart scorched and sizzled his restraint and he knew what he did was wrong. He knew it was wrong of him to let himself go further than a kiss.

He knew it was impossible for his treasure to accept his desire. His heart soared when he felt those lips press back, so tentative, so tantalizing... He felt like there was a chance, that maybe, just maybe, his golden treasure understood. That maybe... maybe he accepted this longing. That's why he _had_to try going further. Just a little... it... it was a hopeless pursuit, he now knows but...

The heat of the moment... was too much for the pyro.

* * *

**Miku: (bawling eyes out) AKU-CHAN, YOU POOR KICKED PUPPY!  
Axel: ...way to make me emo, Miku. Seriously. Least you could do is let me WIN FOR ONCE.  
Miku: What? Readers eat this stuff up, Aku-chan. ** **What good is a romantic if he has no sense of angst?  
Axel: WHY COULDN'T THIS HAVE BEEN RIKU'S BACK STORY?  
Riku: AXEL, YOU DIPSHIT, STOP SPOILING THE STORY.  
Axel: (summons chakrams) WHAT'D YOU CALL ME?  
Miku: Riku... He's got chakrams... Shit just got real.  
Roxas: (pulls off headphones) What? I couldn't hear this chapter over the roar of my music.  
Miku: (hugs Roxas) Roku-chan, you suck. ^_^  
Roxas: ...what?**

Miku: READ AND REVIEW PEOPLE! Your reviews... hm... OH! Your reviews are the fire to my pyro.  
Axel: Aw HELL yeah.  
Miku: Thought you'd like that, Aku-chan


	13. Things Change

_**Author's Note:**_** I've delayed this one HELL of a long time. So here it is, my lovelies~! And for all of you who are fans of RokuSo, this will be your fan-service chapter. Briefly. **

**Sora: ...fan service? BRIEF fan service? (gulp) How brief are we talking? I'm not gonna lose my briefs, am I?**

**Me: Entirely up to Roxas.**

**Roxas: Excellent. (insert Jesse McCartney evil laugh/Robin chuckle here)**

**Sora: D: **

**Roxas: *3***

* * *

**Chapter 13 – Things Change**

"_We seem to be changing; but the strange thing is that I don't feel a thing."_

* * *

"Roxas..." He starts, biting down on his lip a little as he spoke. "That's not what I meant."

"Then... what?"

Well, he couldn't avoid telling him now, could he? The young brunette sighs, trying his hardest not to look at Roxas's face. "The night you guys were fighting becauseweweredating," his hands trembled a little; why was he so nervous? All he had to do was tell Roxas the truth, and then things would be fine, right? "He... snuck into our room."

He hated the way Roxas's eyes widened. "To do... what?" Immediately following his statement, he looked down towards his...

"IT WAS NOTHING LIKE THAT!" The brunette snaps, cheeks turning red at the thought of waking up to an event like _that_, and just the overall thought of his roommate being naked. Oh man. Naked Roxas? Bad train of thought, Sora. REALLY bad train of thought.

_It's already bad enough you still like him too. Thank GOD he can't read minds._

"Gosh, is it hot in here or what?" he chuckles nervously, jumping up from his bed and opening the window. He sighs, relieved, at the cool mid-afternoon breeze that brushed against his crimson-colored cheeks. He tried to pretend the cool air made his blush go away when he felt the heat gone. But knew it wouldn't go away no matter what. Sora could practically _feel_the glare Roxas shot him again.

"Sora." His roommate reminded him, the voice sending a noticeable shiver through his body. They both tried to ignore it. But he still didn't dare turn around. Not when Roxas was staring at him like that... Even the sound of his voice made him feel like crying and his heart bled in his chest.

"R-Right, sorry." He clears his throat, calms his nerves before beginning his story. "But that night, he c-came into our room and told you that he loved you (I guess he didn't know I was awake when he did) and... and..."

He jumped when he felt Roxas's presence behind him, his heart beating a million miles a minute when arms wrapped around his small figure from behind and a pair of lips busied themselves at the back of his neck. Poor Sora had to bite down on his fist to keep the surprised sounds from coming out his lips. And it most certainly didn't help he kept kissing further and further down, until he pecked at the hemming of his shirt. "And...?"

The vibrations of his voice against his soft skin earned a muffled whimper from him. "A-And he kind of k-kissed you while you were asleep too... said all th-this stuff about being in love with you for a really long time..." With the new found strength Sora found from finally telling Roxas about it, he shyly backed away and turned to face him. When familiar blue eyes gazed down at him – scratch that, _through_him he felt his breath catch somewhere deep in his chest. He had to constantly keep his eyes moving away from the sight of those big, blue orbs staring him down. "Th-the reason I... we broke up is because of it." Every so often he glanced back up to assure him it was, in fact, Roxas he was addressing.

The blonde sighs, visibly and audibly irritated. "Sora there's nothing going on between the two of us. If anything, it's entirely one-sided and – Hey, Sora. Look at me."

He shakes his head as fast as he can, chocolate spikes flying in all directions. The last thing he wanted to do was look up into the eyes he was starting to fall for. Okay, granted 'fall for' is a pretty strong thing to say for someone he's only known for approximately about a year. But he still felt weak in the knees when Roxas looked at him like that.

"Sora."

D-Don't use that voice... he thinks to himself as he hesitantly looks back up towards his roommate. He immediately regrets it, of course, as he feels something brushing his lips. The all-too-familiar sensation of Roxas's lips on his caused something inside of him to burst, a cruel feeling of want slithering through his veins, freezing the words in his throat, settling in his eyes. It threatened a tear to fall each second he spent here with him. His hands came to rest on Roxas's shoulders, trying desperately to push him away. But to no avail; they trembled and shook so hard he balled them into fists and lightly pressed back.

Something about this kiss reminded him of something. He didn't know what it was, but it still did.

"I have to tell you something too." the blonde whispered in his ear as they parted. He tickled and teased his neck with warm breath and Sora stood there, lips still parted, frozen in place. He couldn't believe his eyes, or lips, rather; Roxas just kissed him. Roxas just _kissed_him. "You broke up with me so I could be with Axel..." The blonde looks down at him, straight into his eyes with a sad smile. "Isn't that right?"

He couldn't speak. He couldn't breathe. He could barely nod his head in response.

"Always gotta be so nice, don't you?" His roommate sighs, turning his back to the brunette. "Then I think you deserve to know the truth about that kiss, from a couple months back."

_What?_

"The... truth...?" Sora repeats, still a little breathless as his heart regained its previous pace. "What do you mean truth?"

"I wanted to tell you sooner, but..." Roxas pauses, the suspense building (not only for you, dearest reader, but for Sora too) as he crosses his arms and his voice lowered about three octaves. "...he made me promise not to, no matter what."

"Who is he? What are you talking about, Roxas?"

Turning around, he let their eyes meet for the longest, most painful moment of his life. The blood in his veins chilled and the heart beat he'd worked so hard to slow sped up again. The air grew thick with an uncomfortable feeling and something told Sora things were about to... change.

"Riku, Sora." the blonde says with a sad smile. "He was the one who kissed you; not me."

* * *

**[A/N: And now, some comic relief from our good pal, Hayner~!]**

_I will not admit defeat. ESPECIALLY not to him._

Hayner's been pacing outside the science lab for about an hour. Why did classes have to be so long? He just wanted to talk to Olette and settle this Roxas thing straight; it wasn't that he was taking Roxas's advice (like HELL he'd admit defeat to that cocky pretty-boy) he just wanted to set the record straight with Olette that he DOESN'T like her, and he DOESN'T care that she and Roxas kissed. Even if it was an accident. So there; take THAT, Roxas!

_What the hell possessed him to even think that anyways?_he thinks to himself with a grimacing sigh, leaning his back up against the wall as he glanced up at the clock. 1:03. Just two more minutes to go and she'd be done with her stupid Biology class so he could talk to her. He's still surprised his study-hall warden – or I mean um... 'advisor' didn't notice he was gone for an hour. What an idiot. What kind of teacher doesn't notice his student has been "in the medic" for an hour? Better yet, who lets him take his books with him! Stupid ass teachers; Hayner lived for their stupidity.

_Why would anyone like Olette, for that matter? All she does is talk about other people, and gossip like all the other friggin' chicks in this school. Big whoop._That's right; all she does is talk about "what she's wearing to the dance" or, how Roxas and Sora "were so kawaii together", or how she's such a "rebel" for wearing socks with sandals. Sure, she was pretty, and she put up with Hayner's cynicism, and even went so far as to help him pull pranks on the teachers after school...

Wait. What?

Did he just call her... pretty? Nonononononononono, Hayner does NOT date, and pretty has never and will never be a word in his vocabulary. Unless he's calling the girl _pretty_ stupid. _...who am I kidding?_he thinks with a sigh as the back of his head collided with the wall. At this point, he was trying too hard to convince himself that he didn't care at all for the girl. I mean... sure, she's one if his best friends and he's always seen her in a 'female side-character" way but... this is high school.

She's all... _feminine_ now. Like, a... _woman_or whatever.

He shudders with disgust at the word. Girly girls... ick. SERIOUSLY not helping his attraction. Hayner is jolted back to reality as the dismissal bell rings. He feels his heart leap when he sees Olette, all dolled up in her feminine school-girl glory, walking out of the classroom with a cheerful looking Selphie. She immediately glances up to look at the flustered blonde, and says a quick goodbye to Selphie to strut over.

_Strutting. Wow, Olette. Just wow. Honestly, who are you trying to impress?_

"What's up, Hayner?" she spoke with a soft smile that made Hayner's insides melt a little. "Wait... I thought you had a study hall now. On the other side of the building...?"

He cleared his throat of unspoken words (and mind of terrible thoughts) and tried his hardest to lower his voice a couple octaves, like some cool bad-ass kid. "I ditched." He tried not to be annoyed when Olette laughed about his 'manly voice.'

"You decided you'd ditch a study hall to stand outside the biology lab...?"

"I-I uh... yeah, that's pretty much it."

She giggles, flipping her hair back (like in the movies, except less slow-mo-fied) and adjusting her bag strap over her shoulder. "Hayner, I don't get you sometimes."

_That makes two of us..._he thinks to himself with a scowl.

"Was there some key purpose to stalking me or are you just tooling around?" Olette chuckles, throwing a couple of 'hellos' to passing friends behind her. "Oh... your face is flushed! Geez, Hayner; if I didn't know any better I'd say you like me." Following her statement, she laughs a gentle laugh, catching the blonde off guard and forcing his breath to catch in his chest.

"Yeah... I-I do." he slips, looking away to lock his eyes on the outside window.

She glares at him, green eyes wide with shock.

_...SHIT. Don't panic, Hayner; just lie your way out._

"NOT!" he laughs, obnoxiously loud to the point he nearly drew a crowd. "Why would I like some dip like you, Olette? Baka!" She scowls. By the way Olette stomped off (and on his foot, in HEELS damnit!) with a frown; he could tell his little white lie trick wasn't the best idea.

_Good job, Hayner. Potential crisis avoided._

Good job, Hayner. Good job indeed.

* * *

**Me: Reviews are the sea-salt in my ice cream.**

**Roxas: Very cute.**

**Me: Get used to it.  
**


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